'Waqar Younis faces ouster if Pakistan return winless from Bangladesh'

Waqar Younis

Karachi: Pakistan's head coach Waqar Younis is likely to face the axe if the national cricket team fails to win the Test series against Bangladesh. Inquiries carried out by PTI have confirmed that the former Test captain, who is now in the second year of his coaching assignment with the Pakistan Cricket Board, is facing a possible axe as opinion against his coaching abilities have increased in the board and generally in the cricket community.

Waqar Younis

"Even a draw in the second Test is not going to save Waqar's job. He has to inspire Pakistan to win the Test," an insider in the PCB said.

Waqar and the PCB have come under increasing criticism for the team's recent poor performances which have seen them not win a single match so far in Bangladesh.

"It is an outrageous situation for Pakistan cricket and if Pakistan can't win the Test the coaches need to be changed so do the people running cricket affairs in the board," former Test captain Muhammad Yousuf said.

"People can't tolerate such performances. Other countries change their coaches if they don't deliver so what if Waqar is removed what is wrong with that," Yousuf said. The insider said the PCB had made up its mind to even pay Waqar three months pay as compensation if it releases him after the series as his contract runs until April, 2016.

PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan is also due to reach Dhaka tomorrow where he is scheduled to have meetings with Waqar, manager Naved Cheema, other coaches and captains Misbah-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali to discuss what has gone wrong in Bangladesh.

"Khan is carrying a mandate of his board of governors so if Waqar and the other coaching staff wants to survive they have to ensure the team wins the second Test starting tomorrow," another source said.

Former Pakistan pacer Sikander Bakht felt that Pakistan could win the Test if it rested one batsman and played an extra bowler in the match as the pitches are batting friendly in Bangladesh.

Former Pakistan skipper Rashid Latif said that Waqar would be desperate to win as his own reputation was at stake now.