'It's better if he focuses on learning how to coach' - Aaqib Javed on Waqar Younis stepping down from his role

Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis recently stepped down from their respective roles ahead of the T20 World Cup. The Pakistan Cricket Board thus announced that former Pakistan Test players, Saqlain Mushtaq and Abdul Razzaq will take over the duties for the time being. The former Pakistan fast bowler Aaqib Javed has however taken a dig at ex-bowling coach Waqar Younis.

Javed has put forward his thoughts a day after Waqar Younis stepped down from his post. Javed has advised Waqar Younis to learn the art of coaching before yet again moving for another stint in cricket commentary.

“Whenever Waqar Younis quit coaching, he went back to commentating on cricket. He does only two things–coaching and commentating. [As far as coaching goes] he hasn’t learned that so I would say it’s better if he focuses on learning how to coach [this time],” Aaqib Javed stated as reported by Geo News.

Even a player doesn’t make so many comebacks to the squad: Aaqib Javed

Javed slammed the cricket authorities over the non-professional approach. He stated that Waqar Younis had coached Pakistan five times over the last 15 years as either the head coach or the bowling coach of the national side.

“Even a player doesn’t make so many comebacks to the squad [as Waqar Younis did]. But here, coaches are making comebacks,” Javed stated.

Javed also took a jab at the board’s hiring process. He expressed his disappointment on the board appointing people who were not professional coaches. He asserted that the PCB picks cricketers who were stellar batsmen and thought they could train the other players.

“Neither do we have ‘A’ team coaches nor do we have quality coaches at the National High-Performance Centre. All coaches working there are not even qualified. I had said that this was the worst decision as someone who had never coached a single day in his life was appointed the national team’s head coach,” Javed said while opening up about Misbah’s appointment as head coach.

Javed feels that playing and coaching are two vastly different fields. He put forward the example of Javed Miandad and said people without professional training have failed to succeed because of the differences in roles of playing and coaching the team.