Azhar Mahmood's appointment as Pakistan Head Coach instantly backfires; PCB red-faced
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Former Pakistani cricketer Kamran Akmal has come out to put his opinion against the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) decision to appoint Azhar Mahmood as another interim head coach for the Pakistan test side.
The Pakistan Test team has been without a head coach since the resignation of Australian great Jason Gillespie. Since then, the PCB has appointed interim coaches in the form of Aqib Javed, who took over the role from Jason Gillespie after he resigned from the post.
Akmal goes after Azhar Mahmood's appointment
Azhar Mahmood has now been named as Pakistan's 7th test coach since 2021. This clearly shows a continuous spree of disagreement and chaos within the PCB and reflects a shade of their inconsistency in making vital decisions.
"I just don’t understand the logic behind this decision. It’s exactly like the time PCB made Mickey Arthur director of cricket while allowing him to continue working with a county team. I couldn’t understand it then, and I can’t understand it now,” said Kamran Akmal while referring to his views on Mahmood's appointment.
Kamran Akmal disgusted with temporary appointments by the PCB
Pakistan has been a major failure across all three formats of the game. Playing several ICC events, the results have been humiliating for Pakistan, with the latest being their exit from the 2025 Champions Trophy, which was held on their home soil.
Kamran Akmal has backed the team and blamed the PCB for its inconsistent decision-making, showing a distrust of this pattern of temporary appointments.
“These decisions reflect a lack of seriousness. When the PCB starts thinking seriously and acting professionally, it won’t have to make such compromises or temporary appointments,” added the former Pakistan wicket-keeper, Kamran Akmal.
Azhar Mahmood, since his appointment in April 2024, has been the assistant coach for Pakistan across all three formats of the game.
However, resuming his duties as the red-ball coach, Azhar Mahmood is most likely not to continue any further as their white-ball assistant coach, since Azhar Mahmood was also not seen in Pakistan's white-ball series against Bangladesh.
Aqib Javed was appointed after Jason Gillespie resigned as Pakistan's red-ball coach
Jason Gillespie was appointed the head coach of the Pakistan national cricket team back in April 2024; however, after a brief stint with the men in green, Gillespie stepped down from the role.
After his resignation in December 2024, Pakistan appointed Aqib Javed, the white-ball coach, as the next head coach of the Test side as well. He led Pakistan as their coach in the two-match test series against South Africa.
Gillespie's last assignment marked a home victory for Pakistan after a record stint of losing tests at home; however, after the appointment of Javed, Pakistan lost the test series against South Africa on their tour to the African nation.
This has been pointed out by Kamran Akmal, as he suggests Pakistan's problems in the long run.
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Pakistan's humiliating end to WTC 2023-25
Many teams have not had the best of impacts in the ICC World Test Championship, one of the major names being England, as the Three Lions are yet to make an appearance in the WTC final, which is hosted on their land itself.
However, Pakistan had a disastrous campaign in the WTC 2023-25 cycle, where they ended as the bottom-most team on the points table and ended with just 5 wins in 14 test matches. They had the lowest PCT at 27.98, even below Bangladesh and the West Indies.
