Sunday 1st November 2009
Pak team official called back
The PCB has changed the assistant manager of the national team midway through its tours to Abu Dhabi, Dubai and New Zealand.
PCB sources said chairman Ejaz Butt had ordered that Asad Mustafa, who has gone to the Emirates as associate manager of the team, will return home after the ODI series and Muhammad Ahmed will replace him for the Test tour of New Zealand.
Muhammad Ahmed was associate manager with Yawar Saeed until before the Champions Trophy in South Africa but was replaced by Shafqat Rana later on.
Ahmed has been pinpointed as one of the "oldies" in the team of Butt, who is accused of shunning younger people to accommodate his close friends and associates who are in their sixties or seventies like him.
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Strangely while announcing the team management for the one-day and Test series against New Zealand, the PCB had not mentioned that there would be different assistant managers for the two legs of the tour.
"It is hard to understand why Asad Mustafa is being called back from the Emirates as he has worked before with the Pakistan team in New Zealand and knows the conditions and working environment there inside out," one former player said.
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Pakistan will play three-match ODI series in Abu Dhabi, commencing from Tuesday, and two Twenty20 matches in Dubai, before travelling to New Zealand for a Test series.
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