KARACHI: Ijaz Ahmed jr. was sacked 4 years ago following allegations of match-fixing by Pakistan Cricket Board, has been re-appointed as head coach of the Pakistan squad for the upcoming Asian Emerging Nations Cup, which is going to be held at Karachi and Colombo in December.
Pakistan Cricket Board’s recent decision wasn’t welcomed too warmly.But in a statement PCB representatives went on insisting that Ijaz Ahmed jr. was already doing coaching in domestic Cricket since the investigation against him couldn’t produce credible evidence against him.
The allegations included charges for partaking in the fixing a domestic T20 match. Basit Ali,who also happens to been an ex-Test cricketer, claimed while commentating in a tournament, that Ijaz Ahmed jr. had previously revealed to him that he had fixed a domestic T20 game whilst coaching Sialkot.
Soon after the allegations surfaced Ijaz Ahmed Jr. was sacked from his position as regional coach.
PCB now claims that investigations against Ijaz Ahmed Jr. failed to produce any evidence against his involvement in match fixing.
“The board resumed giving coaching assignments of junior teams in domestic cricket to Ijaz two years back,”-PCB
The Pakistan team will be playing against Bangladesh, UAE and Hong Kong in Group B of the tournament being held at Karachi from December 6 .India, Sri Lanka, Oman and Afghanistan are to play matches in Group A at Colombo.
The match venues were rescheduled by the Asian Cricket Council after India refused to tour .The semi-finals and final of the Asian Emerging Nations Cup will be played in Colombo.
Pakistan Emerging squad:
- Sahibzada Farhan,
- Zeeshan Malik,
- Ali Imran,
- Hussain Talat,
- Saad Ali,
- Khushdil Shah,
- Saud Shakil,
- Muhammad Rizwan (captain, wicketkeeper),
- Ashiq Ali,
- Muhammad Asghar,
- Ghulam Mudassar,
- Sameen Gul,
- Musa Khan,
- Muhammad Ilyas,
- Suleman Shafqat.