Javed Miandad has seemingly done a full U-turn on his opinion of Imran Khan, having lambasted his choices as Pakistan prime minister in an extraordinary tirade last week. The PCB have also appointed his nephew, Faisal Iqbal, as the head coach of a domestic team.
Miandad held Imran responsible for ruining Pakistan cricket by appointing ‘outsiders’ in key positions, and accused Imran of being “like god now”. A little over a week on, that stance has changed, coincidentally after Iqbal, the former Test player, was appointed coach of Balochistan.
“If I have offended anyone, I apologise for my words,” Miandad was quoted as saying by ARY News. “Especially to the prime minister, because I was angry about Pakistan’s performance in the first Test against England. I have full respect for the Prime Minister and Pakistan cricket fans all over the world.”
@FaisalIqbalCric on what credentials he has been appointed don’t deserve it there are many other test players who have served country the guy never played on merit got on the selection panel @TheRealPCB please don’t ruin future of Pakistan cricket
— Danish Kaneria (@DanishKaneria61) August 20, 2020
It was a stunning turnaround, after Miandad, speaking on his YouTube channel last week, said: “I was your captain, you weren’t my captain. I’ll come to politics and then I’ll talk to you. I was the one who led you all the time, but you act like god now. It is almost like you’re the only intelligent person in this country as if no one has gone to Oxford or Cambridge or any other university.”
Iqbal’s appointment, a part of PCB’s wide-ranging changes to domestic cricket – according to ESPNcricinfo, as many as 16 domestic coaches lost their jobs – didn’t go down well with former leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, who took to Twitter to slam Iqbal’s appointment, saying he had never played “on merit”.
Iqbal played 26 Tests and 18 ODIs for Pakistan between 2000 and 2010. He scored 1,124 runs in Tests, but was disappointing in ODIs, with an aggregate of 314 runs in 16 innings.
