Salim Malik: Was interested to coach Pakistan cricket team

Karachi: Pakistan‘s former captain Salim Malik, who was banned for life for match-fixing, said he was keen to apply for the position of head coach of the national cricket team. The current status of Malik’s life ban remains unclear even though court declared the ban imposed on him in 2000 as illegal. However, the Pakistan Cricket Board is yet to officially announce that he is no longer serving the ban. The ban was recommended on Malik by the Justice Malik Qayyum inquiry commission which probed into allegations of match-fixing in the Pakistan team. Salim Malik wants only cricketers to become Pakistan Cricket Board chief

“I have not been allowed to get involved in any cricket despite the court orders. I was keen to apply for the post of head coach but have changed my mind now,” the former batsman told PTI. “I get a feeling the PCB is more interested in appointing a foreign coach so it is no use wasting my energy. But I still want to come forward and work in club and domestic cricket,” Malik said.

He said the PCB had experimented before with foreign coaches and it was not successful. “The primary reason for this is communication and language problems and there is also a cultural barrier between our players and a foreign coach who can’t understand our cricket culture,” he added. Malik said he saw the role of a coach more as a mentor, someone who the players looked up to rather than from any technical aspect.