Former Pakistan cricketer Atiquz Zaman hits out at Aaqib Javed and Brendon McCullum surrounding PSL 3

Atiquz Zaman, the former Pakistan cricketer, has hurled severe allegations at Aaqib Javed, retired Pakistan pacer and Brendon McCullum. The accusations were regarding the third edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Even as Javed was the head coach of the Lahore Qalandars, McCullum, a former New Zealand cricketer, was the skipper of the franchise.

The Qalandars also had Inzamam-ul-Haq as the batting consultant, Kabir Khan as the bowling coach and Kyle Mills as the technical and tactical advisor of the team. While opining on Javed, Zaman lashed out, saying he didn’t have much clue about going back to the drawing boards after a string of defeats. He also stated that there was a ‘club level setup’, in the Qalandars.

Zaman comes down hard on Javed and McCullum 

“According to me, Aaqib Javed is one of the worst coaches of the century. Despite losing three matches from winning positions, he didn’t do any review of the performance,” Zaman was quoted as saying while speaking on a video in YouTube.

“He used to make no plans with regards to who would be the openers or which bowler will open the bowling. There was a club level setup in Qalandars. He used to send players depending on his mood. He never used to go inside the field during strategic timeout and always used to send other members of the coaching staff,”  Zaman mentioned.

Talking about McCullum, Zaman said that the captain hardly went in team meetings. Rather, the former Kiwi used Mills as a ‘messenger’. “McCullum never used to attend team meetings. Kyle Mills used to act as his messenger and deliver the message to him after the meeting.

I said in the meeting that I don’t understand how McCullum attempted a single when seven runs were needed in the last over with only two wickets left. I gave my honest opinion and later I was restricted to my hotel,” he added.

The Qalandars had a rather tough time in 2018. They started the tournament with six losses in a row that shut their hopes of qualifying for the next round. In the end, McCullum’s men finished as the cellar dwellers, having won three out of their 10 matches.