What's new

[VIDEO] Saqlain Mushtaq as interim Head Coach for Pakistan - Performance watch

MenInG

PakPassion Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 2, 2004
Runs
218,138
So how is he doing? Can Saqlain be given some credit for Pakistan's new found confidence?

04cebd11-942b-4ba8-a21a-dbae602eaf1b.jpg
 
Saqlain is no mug, he has held various roles for England West Indies and other franchises in the past so he must have some acumen.

someone has to be given credit because only a few weeks ago everyone was worried how we would fare in the World Cup after our well documented struggles against Z list teams and D listers, be it saqi or philander or Hayden I think they have worked well as a team and improved the defensive mentality of the team.
 
I like Saqlain; he's a bit laid back, doesn't really push people around, and lets people be free in what they are doing.

Not surprisingly, Shadab's bowling has looked a lot better with Saqlain around.
 
Saqlain was always going to be better than Waqar and Misbah.

He is tactically better than them any day. I think Pakistan should get in a foreign Head coach and keep Saqlain as Assistant coach as well as spin bowling coach .
 
If he wins he is good, if he loses, he isnt. No one really knows what he has or hasn't added. There is only thing we can say, he has won both games
 
If he wins he is good, if he loses, he isnt. No one really knows what he has or hasn't added. There is only thing we can say, he has won both games

Pretty much this. Unless someone can say what he's done it's all pretty meaningless at this stage.
 
He is the ideal coach, at first i didnt like his appointment, but now its growing on me. He isnt a coach, he isnt there to coach, he wont coach, he will just let them be and quitely milk glory like intekhaab alam, and on a plus side will give good support to spinners. Unless like Misbah and Waqar he wont try to be a coach when he knows he isnt one. Great choice to stick too, this will help our boys breathe and perform. Saqi bhai ki biryani aur nihari nahin rukni chahiyey bas...
 
Just an intikhab Alam type appointment nothing else.

The real headcoaches have made the team and the players who they had worked with are the ones who have performed till now.
 
Just an intikhab Alam type appointment nothing else.


The real headcoaches have made the team and the players who they had worked with are the ones who have performed till now.

Legend of the game and has been apart of various successful coaching setups. To doubt him over Misbah who has little coaching experience and Waqar Younis the man that has haunted Pakistan cricket for the best part of a decade and couldn’t get Pakistani bowlers to performance consistently, well, that would be ludicrous.
 
Seems like a very level-headed and mature individual, and someone who is cut out for coaching.

A far cry from many of our other ex-players who are neither mature, nor level-headed nor cut out for coaching.
 
Pretty much this. Unless someone can say what he's done it's all pretty meaningless at this stage.

One thing is pretty clear, this same team was being ridiculed for struggling against z teams and d teams and the like, the squad was called one of the worst pak has taken to the World Cup, 2 games later we look a completely different team and are suddenly favourites, something has changed in the last month or so, it’s the coach not new players drafted in, so coincidence or not have to give a little credit to the whole setup.
 
Shows that you can have right players picked up by wrong person but the same right player with right management can produce better results.

story of almost every institution.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Saqlain Mushtaq has made sure that <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pakistan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pakistan</a> flags are planted into the ground during practice sessions. It’s to motivate the players, to give the players a sense of feeling and a reminder that they have the honour of representing their country on a world stage <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/T20WorldCup?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#T20WorldCup</a> <a href="https://t.co/zSlG9vrRQY">pic.twitter.com/zSlG9vrRQY</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/SajSadiqCricket/status/1453769846253101059?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Always liked him. When Whatmore's tenure ended, he had emerged as a front runner for the assistant coaching role and Mushtaq was preferred instead.

Obviously a coach isn't going to make a difference all of a sudden, but sometimes the environment and atmosphere one creates and small things like giving captain a bit more say and stuff brings better results from the team. Hopefully Shadab, Yasir, Nauman and Imad are going to improve under him.
 
The best part about him is he comes across as humble, soft-spoken, no-drama, simple man, keeps away from social media circus, prefers to work behind the scenes, highly respected among peers and legends, and gets along well with everyone (including players and coaches from other countries). An ideal candidate for Pak coaching role.



Always liked him. When Whatmore's tenure ended, he had emerged as a front runner for the assistant coaching role and Mushtaq was preferred instead.

Obviously a coach isn't going to make a difference all of a sudden, but sometimes the environment and atmosphere one creates and small things like giving captain a bit more say and stuff brings better results from the team. Hopefully Shadab, Yasir, Nauman and Imad are going to improve under him.
 
so far so good, especially he's letting the players to take the limelight, unlike waqar younus . he was the first person to attend the press conference after every Pak victory.
 
Don't spend millions on coaches, spend it on facilities for players, more matches in FC and better pay for FC players. A Foreign coach will need a package of around $1/2m a year and in the end he will make no difference, that is close 8 crore a year, if that money is spent on our domestic players, they will Improve and the International will also improve.
 
Saqi brings to the table what Misbah and Waqar couldn’t and that is coaching experience with A sides such as England. He has vast experience to say the least and is a perfect fit for the role.
 
I don't recommend Saqlain as coach, one with so poor fitness should not be a coach . Before you teach others, apply the teaching on yourself . I know he is not an active player but Saqlain should not look like as sweat seller , FGS.
 
I don't recommend Saqlain as coach, one with so poor fitness should not be a coach . Before you teach others, apply the teaching on yourself . I know he is not an active player but Saqlain should not look like as sweat seller , FGS.

As opposed to the incredibe athletic specimen such as Silverwood, Shastri and Arthur?
I think other criteria need to come before a coaches pecs and 6 packs. Saying that Saqlain should be a temporary coach and is not the right man - but only for reasons that he is not coach material.
 
As opposed to the incredibe athletic specimen such as Silverwood, Shastri and Arthur?
I think other criteria need to come before a coaches pecs and 6 packs. Saying that Saqlain should be a temporary coach and is not the right man - but only for reasons that he is not coach material.

Saqlain at 44 ( at least officially ) is much younger than them and his fitness is worst than them . I never understood the mindset of people like Saqlain, he earns money from a sports related job and still no fitness. An average person of his age has better fitness , even in Pakistan and definitely here in USA.
 
What about this match-up?

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/hpxowl" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
 
The best part about him is he comes across as humble, soft-spoken, no-drama, simple man, keeps away from social media circus, prefers to work behind the scenes, highly respected among peers and legends, and gets along well with everyone (including players and coaches from other countries). An ideal candidate for Pak coaching role.

This. So far so good. Important things is to not be TOXIC.
 
One of the most technically knowledgeable coaches around the country. It's laughable how people are equating him to Intikhab. I've heard him on a fair bit of occasions on PTV and always comes across as very knowledgeable and intelligent individual.

It's not a joke that he's been on demand in several countries as a spin bowling coach
 
He is such a calming influence on the team. His simple, soft spoken and clear statements are so soothing to hear even as a fan and gives you the vibe of how confident and on money the dressing room is. The team is hopefully going to thrive under him. I am not here throwing vitriol over Misbah and Waqar(although still don't rate him as a coach) and I believe Misbah did some good stuff with the team and provided elements and composition of the team.

You can easily see how Pakistan have come to every game with a game plan.
 
Asif giving credit to Misbah, saying I would always be thankful to him
 
Saqlain at 44 ( at least officially ) is much younger than them and his fitness is worst than them . I never understood the mindset of people like Saqlain, he earns money from a sports related job and still no fitness. An average person of his age has better fitness , even in Pakistan and definitely here in USA.

More likely to be around 46-47.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OnThisDay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OnThisDay</a> in 1996. A hat-trick for current Pakistan Head Coach Saqlain Mushtaq as Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 78 runs in Peshawar. Saqlain finished with figures of 4-28 whilst Ijaz Ahmed made 117 (10 fours and 4 sixes) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/52nOEE3Dl4">pic.twitter.com/52nOEE3Dl4</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/SajSadiqCricket/status/1455827590225317891?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Definitely he’s made a difference.

Above all Pakistan (so far) just have not been made to look nervous in any of the games, especially their body language which matters especially against big games like India.
 
Saqlain - fatherly figure?

FDWmv-WUUBEhtuI
 
According to the Sports reporters, the feedback received from the players by the PCB on Saqlain has been really positive. He provides a very comfortable, open environment to the players in the dressing room, gives complete freedom and space to the captain to run the show and he doesn't waste time going on about what a great player he was, how he used to play his cricket. The results are showing on the field.

I wonder if the PCB will be double minded on finding another coach.
 
PCB should stick with Saqlain as an assistant coach and spin bowling coach for Under 19 as well as mentor for National Team.

Pakistan should look for another foreign coach as Head Coach , who can work as batting coach.
 
According to the Sports reporters, the feedback received from the players by the PCB on Saqlain has been really positive. He provides a very comfortable, open environment to the players in the dressing room, gives complete freedom and space to the captain to run the show and he doesn't waste time going on about what a great player he was, how he used to play his cricket. The results are showing on the field.

I wonder if the PCB will be double minded on finding another coach.

I think they should extend it until another series or two if we do loose a series then we can see what the players will say and how he will react to them defeats.All is well whilst winning.
 
According to the Sports reporters, the feedback received from the players by the PCB on Saqlain has been really positive. He provides a very comfortable, open environment to the players in the dressing room, gives complete freedom and space to the captain to run the show and he doesn't waste time going on about what a great player he was, how he used to play his cricket. The results are showing on the field.

I wonder if the PCB will be double minded on finding another coach.

Bit like players liking Ole and not delivering jack. Lets appoint proper management asap and not let this experiment go on any longer. We won two WC's under intikhab alam, so this few week experiment doesn't tell us much.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Saqlain Mushtaq has made sure that <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pakistan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pakistan</a> flags are planted into the ground during practice sessions. It’s to motivate the players, to give the players a sense of feeling and a reminder that they have the honour of representing their country on a world stage <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/T20WorldCup?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#T20WorldCup</a> <a href="https://t.co/zSlG9vrRQY">pic.twitter.com/zSlG9vrRQY</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/SajSadiqCricket/status/1453769846253101059?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Continuing with same flag thing in Bangladesh

197c6294-8c1b-4893-893f-2d381f6892be.jpga52e4781-ff68-4f1b-b76a-b8b080a3f912.jpg
 
Is Abdul Razzaq also in the coaching setup for Pakistan? I never saw him in this T20 WC
 
Moin Khan:

“Saqlain is a better choice for the Pakistan cricket team. He is a very sensible, experienced and seasoned coach and knows how to handle the team. We currently witnessed how well they gelled together under his coaching"

“Stories coming from the dressing room prove that the team was happy with his work ethic. As long as the team is happy with him and the partnership is working for the betterment of the team, I think he should continue.”
 
Is Abdul Razzaq also in the coaching setup for Pakistan? I never saw him in this T20 WC

Abdul Razzaq was one of the coaches that fought with players in the last season, this was in the same new report that said haris Sohail had an altercation with Faisal Iqbal.
 
No doubt they'll be a thread made up about the subject of the flags being planted as some sort of issue.

There's always one.
 
Graham Ford and Mickey Arthur are available

Get any one of these before Misbah/Waqar reapplies again
 
If someone ask me : I would take MA as our coach for one year, as he had good understanding with the players he developed

Babar, Shadab, Rizwan, Shaheen, Faheem, Imad, Sarafaraz , etc.
 
Abdul Razzaq was one of the coaches that fought with players in the last season, this was in the same new report that said haris Sohail had an altercation with Faisal Iqbal.

So Abdul Razzaq left the Pakistan interim coach role?
 
https://www.samaa.tv/sports/cricket/2021/11/yousuf-gul-being-considered-for-pakistan-consultancy-positions/

Former Pakistan batter Mohammad Yousuf and ex fast bowler Umar Gul are in contention for the national team batting and bowling consultant positions for the upcoming home series against the West Indies.

The Pakistan Cricket Board hasn’t yet decided to appoint permanent coaches for the team with the interim team management under coach Saqlain Mushtaq is likely to stay in place, at least until the three-match T20 and One-day International series against the Carribbean side.

Pakistan are looking for temporary consultants after Matthew Hayden served a short stint in the batting consultant position during the T20 World Cup.

Bowling consultant Vernon Philander will leave the Pakistan camp after the ongoing first Test against Bangladesh.

Pakistan’s next international assignment after the West Indies series is a home Test and ODI series against Australia.

Before that, it is likely to see permanent coaches appointed for the national team after former head coach and bowling coach Misbah-ul-Haq and Waqar Younis stepped down in September.
 
Another Saqlain touch? poster in Pakistan dressing room it seems

2eb8b755-f5a8-46e9-828a-bf5458a50282.jpg
 
"The Pakistan way" was Grand Bradburn's concept.

Not pleased that he was asked to resign.

Apparently Bradburn had been working from home in NZ for a long time when his role required him to be at the NHPC in Pakistan. Ramiz felt he was being overpaid and not providing much value and therefore asked him to pack up and leave
 
"The Pakistan way" was Grand Bradburn's concept.

Not pleased that he was asked to resign.

Yes - but to take it with the side to foreign lands and put up in the dressing room is a new thing?
 
Apparently Bradburn had been working from home in NZ for a long time when his role required him to be at the NHPC in Pakistan. Ramiz felt he was being overpaid and not providing much value and therefore asked him to pack up and leave

I wasn't aware of him working from home, but he was a very good coach with international experience too, they could have utilised him better.

His position was that of a coach's coach (i.e. he would teach/educate the domestic coaches on how to effectively coach their respective teams). It would be tough to find someone to replace him.

If Ramiz didn't like his job profile he could have asked him to take over the post of head of NCA specially after Saqlain's association with the National team, but he just wants to fire people, shades of Vince McMahon.

p.s.:-
Not a fan of Ramiz firing people left, right and center. If every new chairman fires the top staff and then rehire how is the system supposed to work.
Every new hire will need a cooling off period to understand the system, then will have to come up with a new plan and then when it's finally the time to execute it, get fired.

E.g.
Ramiz asked Wasim Khan, Grand Bradburn, Atiq uz Zaman (not sure if Md Yousuf is still around or not) to resign straight away that's not how it works.
If he wasn't satisfied with their work he should have posted a job opening, interviewed the candidates, hired the suitable ones and allowed the new hires to work with the existing ones for atleast one month where the incumbent would share their knowledge (knowledge transfer) of the systems and their plans and then these guys could be relieved of their duties with the new ones being in a better position to understand and implement their plan.

This is how things work in the corporate world and this is how it should have been in the PCB, Ramiz is creating a big mess for himself he needs a calm mind to guide him before he finds a pitfall.
 
So seems like Saqlain is gonna continue for long. Didn’t hear anything about who is the next head coach except rumours about Gary Kirsten being chased for the role by PCB.
 
So far 10 International wins in 11 games, including a WC win over arch rivals India, quite impressive from Saqlain.

No reason why he shouldn't get a permanent term. He has got the results for sure.
 
Whatever Saqlain is doing has worked brilliantly for this group so yes it will be stupidity to disturb a winning combination.

But hell we are talking about PCB here. Sanity is not something you can expect from them normally.
 
I think the Babar-Saqlain combination is kinda emulating the Shastri-Kohli combo, where Kohli was given a free hand to do whatever he wants and Shastri used to be more of a morale support (Mentor) rather than a classic coach. It is working well for Pakistan, I would hope that sanity prevails in the PCB and they keep Saqi for long and instead of looking at a new head coach they should focus on bowling and batting coach. In my humble opinion Mohammad Akram is the best bowling coach available in Pakistan with vast experience, for batting coach any good experienced coach would be good (ideally not Pakistani). All in all Saqi is good news for Pakistan and the Pakistani spinners
 
All due respect to Saqi bhai, but what is he exactly besides a glorified motivational speaker?
 
All due respect to Saqi bhai, but what is he exactly besides a glorified motivational speaker?

Speech from last night

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/44m90r" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
 
This guy doesn't have skill to be a head coach. He is not any better than Misbah/Waqar. He was lucky that we surprised India in their bad day in 2021 T20 World Cup. But shows of no power/vision in team selection. He kept Hasan Ali for 8 consecutive matches and we paid heavily in semi.
Same way he trusted useless Nauman, Sajid, Hasan Ali, Fawad and we lost the test series.
His silence of final 11 about Hasan Ali cost us first ODI.
 
This guy doesn't have skill to be a head coach. He is not any better than Misbah/Waqar. He was lucky that we surprised India in their bad day in 2021 T20 World Cup. But shows of no power/vision in team selection. He kept Hasan Ali for 8 consecutive matches and we paid heavily in semi.
Same way he trusted useless Nauman, Sajid, Hasan Ali, Fawad and we lost the test series.
His silence of final 11 about Hasan Ali cost us first ODI.

Yes and CT17 win was a fluke as well. Or let's count the one day series win in India in that too. Or any other win for that matter.

Why undermine your own team's achievements to make a point?

Bowling wise, Saqlain has had a very poor series against Australia. But some good one's before that. I think time to give him some rope.
 
Pakistan head coach Saqlain Mushtaq lauded the Australian batters for their commendable show but at the same time conceded that the hosts were not able to produce spin-friendly tracks, leading to their 0-1 series defeat.

"There was spin in Tests but not like you would find in India or Sri Lanka," the 45-year-old spinner told media in Karachi on Monday. "I think in the last 8-10 years, they have improved a lot in playing spin because when I was playing, they couldn't play spin that well and didn't know how to pick up differences for playing with the spin or
against it.

"But in this series I thought Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith really batted well against us."

Saqlain conceded that the Pakistani spinners didn't come up to expectations and would need to work further on their bowling.

"I think they need to do more to add more variations into their bowling. It is not that they bowled badly but to be fair to them the pitches didn't give them that much support but against top batting, they need to improve upon their variations. Come up with something different."

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...oach-saqlain-mushtaq/articleshow/90648495.cms
 
This guy doesn't have skill to be a head coach. He is not any better than Misbah/Waqar. He was lucky that we surprised India in their bad day in 2021 T20 World Cup. But shows of no power/vision in team selection. He kept Hasan Ali for 8 consecutive matches and we paid heavily in semi.
Same way he trusted useless Nauman, Sajid, Hasan Ali, Fawad and we lost the test series.
His silence of final 11 about Hasan Ali cost us first ODI.

I agree , Saqlain is the most useless coach we had in decades , 2nd worst only to Misbah . I'm OK with him being a spin bowling consultant but not more than that, team coach, no way.
 
Saqi has done a decent job so far. The team is fighting well and looks like they are a unit. Every now then performances can vary but that normal in the process.
 
Pakistan head coach Saqlain Mushtaq lauded the Australian batters for their commendable show but at the same time conceded that the hosts were not able to produce spin-friendly tracks, leading to their 0-1 series defeat.

"There was spin in Tests but not like you would find in India or Sri Lanka," the 45-year-old spinner told media in Karachi on Monday. "I think in the last 8-10 years, they have improved a lot in playing spin because when I was playing, they couldn't play spin that well and didn't know how to pick up differences for playing with the spin or
against it.

"But in this series I thought Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith really batted well against us."

Saqlain conceded that the Pakistani spinners didn't come up to expectations and would need to work further on their bowling.

"I think they need to do more to add more variations into their bowling. It is not that they bowled badly but to be fair to them the pitches didn't give them that much support but against top batting, they need to improve upon their variations. Come up with something different."

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...oach-saqlain-mushtaq/articleshow/90648495.cms
Saqlain has bad memory. The Aussie team of the 2000s would score a billion runs on such flat roads.
 
The team doesn't seem divided like we have seen previous Pakistani teams and there doesn't seem to be dressing room drama, something we have often seen in previous Pakistani sides. Babar has done a good job of keeping the team together and the coaching staff seems to be helping with that too.
 
This guy doesn't have skill to be a head coach. He is not any better than Misbah/Waqar. He was lucky that we surprised India in their bad day in 2021 T20 World Cup. But shows of no power/vision in team selection. He kept Hasan Ali for 8 consecutive matches and we paid heavily in semi.
Same way he trusted useless Nauman, Sajid, Hasan Ali, Fawad and we lost the test series.
His silence of final 11 about Hasan Ali cost us first ODI.

What a pathetic comment.

You don't "surprise" an opponents and win by 10 wickets.
 
What a pathetic comment.

You don't "surprise" an opponents and win by 10 wickets.

Saqlain is happy to carry on with Sajid, Nauman and Hasan cost us test series. His silence about Hasan Ali's selection cost us semi. This guy is nothing but Yes man. PCB rather have no coach. At least PCB could save some money since foreign coaches lost interest to apply for the job when Wasim Khan advertised those fake job advertisement. Now Ramiz did the same.
 
I agree , Saqlain is the most useless coach we had in decades , 2nd worst only to Misbah . I'm OK with him being a spin bowling consultant but not more than that, team coach, no way.

Exactly!!! Loosing to Australia D team in test and won 2-1 in ODI will do more damage in future.
 
Saqlain is happy to carry on with Sajid, Nauman and Hasan cost us test series. His silence about Hasan Ali's selection cost us semi. This guy is nothing but Yes man. PCB rather have no coach. At least PCB could save some money since foreign coaches lost interest to apply for the job when Wasim Khan advertised those fake job advertisement. Now Ramiz did the same.

You're not replying to what I said.

I was referring to your statement on Pakistan somehow fluking a 10 Wicket win.
 
You're not replying to what I said.

I was referring to your statement on Pakistan somehow fluking a 10 Wicket win.

Didn't weakest WI beat Pakistan by 10 wickets in 1992? That was also fluke. India is far more stronger team than us. We lost to Australia D team in test in flat pitch.
 
Didn't weakest WI beat Pakistan by 10 wickets in 1992? That was also fluke. India is far more stronger team than us. We lost to Australia D team in test in flat pitch.

Imagine Sachin was playing against Australian D, great chance to further boost his stats
 
Back
Top