Miandad refused batting coach role - Alam

Javed Miandad has turned down the role of Pakistan's batting coach due to personal reasons, the team manager Intikhab Alam has said. Miandad had said earlier that he would consider taking up the job after Pakistan's tour of West Indies, which begins on April 18.

"The Pakistan team surely needs a batting coach and the board approached Miandad, but he unfortunately declined the offer because of personal reasons," Alam said. "But I am sure that he will help the players in the near future."

Miandad was approached by Shahid Afridi and PCB chairman Ijaz Butt following a shaky performance in the World Cup, during which there was no Pakistan batsman in the top 20 run-scorers list. Miandad, who has had three stints as Pakistan's head coach and is a director with the PCB, had said in early April that he would not travel with the team to the West Indies, but would work with the batsmen before their departure, as he did for Pakistan's tour of New Zealand last year.

Reacting to Miandad refusing the post, Afridi said the board should look for "other batting greats" to take up the role. "If he [Miandad] is not available, then the board can hire other batting greats that this country has produced, or even look at a foreign batting coach," he said. "Pakistan cricket has to move on and it is not as if we have produced just one great batsman in the past."