Australian legendary all-rounder Shane Watson has turned down a hefty offer from the PCB to take up the head coach role of Pakistan’s men’s cricket team.
Shane Watson recently coached the Quetta Gladiators to playoffs this season in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). He had reportedly been in advanced talks with the PCB about the head coach role in white-ball cricket, however, according to the latest reports, the Aussie star had refused the offer.
It has been learned that the PCB offered Shane Watson US$2 million a year, covering the T20 World Cup 2024 this year in June and next year’s Champions Trophy.
Why did Shane Watson refuse PCB’s offer?
According to ESPNcricinfo, Shane Watson wants to “honour his current coaching and commentary commitments”. He has a commentary gig planned up for the IPL 2024 and a coaching role with San Francisco Unicorns in the MLC in the USA. Watson could also be seen doing commentary in the T20 World Cup.
The report added: “The speed at which developments occurred concerning the PCB’s interest in Watson as head coach meant that accepting the offer would have necessitated pulling out of his other roles at short notice, which is understood to be the main reason for withdrawing.”
The PCB were reportedly confident of landing Watson. However, the pull out from the Australian means that the Pakistan team will perhaps be without a head coach for the upcoming home matches against New Zealand in April. In May, Pakistan will play England in a T20I series ahead of the T20 World Cup in June.
“A team of local coaches as an interim arrangement for the camp and NZ series is the only available option for the PCB now and Chairman Mohsin Naqvi will be required to make a call after the PSL final on 18th March,” a source said.
In the T20 World Cup 2024 in West Indies and USA, Pakistan will be led by Shaheen Afridi, the new T20I skipper. Babar Azam was sacked as the white-ball captain after Pakistan failed to reach the semi-final of World Cup 2023. However, Babar had led Pakistan to semi-final and final of the last two T20 World Cups.
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