File photo of former Pakistan cricketer Mohsin Khan.
The former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Zaka Ashraf has claimed that they only appointed Australian Dav Whatmore as the head coach of the national team in 2012 after then serving coach Mohsin Khan didn't respond to the board.
Mohsin, a former Test batsman, served as chief selector before he was appointed interim head coach by the PCB headed by Ijaz Butt in September 2011.
He led Pakistan to Test series wins over Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and a whitewash over England in the UAE before Ashraf, who had replaced Butt as chairman, surprisingly didn't extend Mohsin's contract, instead bringing in Whatmore on a two-year contract.
Ashraf and the board were criticised for not trying to extend Mohsin's contract. But Ashraf said on Geo super channel that it was a wrong impression that they didn't want Mohsin.
"I think people should know that while the team was in the UAE and after it had beaten England in the Test series we did try to contact Mohsin several times. Our officials tried to call him but he didn't respond," Ashraf said.
"It was only after we didn't get a response from Mohsin who didn't respond to our calls that I told Intikhab Alam who was heading the coaches committee in the board to decide what was best for Pakistan team after which Whatmore was contacted for an interview," Ashraf claimed.
Interestingly Mohsin has all along said that the board didn't try to contact him to continue as head coach nor were they interested in him staying on.
During Whatmore's tenure Pakistan didn't win a Test series while their only notable achievement was winning the Asia Cup and a one-day series in India. Earlier this year the board released Whatmore.
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