Miandad may take batting coach job

Javed Miandad has said he will consider becoming the batting coach of Pakistan, after their tour of the West Indies is completed. Miandad, however, will not travel with the team to the West Indies, but will work with the batsmen before their departure, as he did for Pakistan's tour of New Zealand last year.

"I had detailed meetings with Mr. [Ijaz] Butt and [Shahid] Afridi, but I told them that I could not travel with the team to the West Indies," Miandad told AP. "I think the tour of West Indies is not a tough one. After this tour I might consider taking up the [batting] coaching assignment."

It was on the request of Pakistan captain Afridi and chairman of the Pakistan board Butt that Miandad, who has had three stints as Pakistan head coach, agreed to work with the team's batsmen before the upcoming tour. The tour begins on April 18, and comprises a one-off Twenty20 game, five one-dayers and three Tests. The tour ends on May 24, after which Pakistan will travel to Ireland to play a one-day series.

As far as what his role would be as batting coach, if he were to take the job full-time, Miandad said it would be mostly restricted to advising batsmen on pitches and bowlers rather than looking to make drastic changes to their techniques.

"I believe that once a batsman is selected for the national team you can't change his technique," he said. "You can only teach him the finer points of the game, like how to handle various bowlers on different pitches."

Batting was a concern for Pakistan during their World Cup, during which they failed in two chases, against New Zealand in the group stages and India in the semi-finals. None of the Pakistan batsmen managed to score a century during the tournament, and none of them were in the top 20 run-scorers either.

Pakistan have included five uncapped players in their squad for the West Indies tour: right-hand batsman Usman Salahuddin, allrounder Hammad Azam, fast bowlers Junaid Khan and Sadaf Hussain, and wicketkeeper Mohammad Salman. Miandad said the changes were positive moves.

"It's the right time to look ahead for the future and start preparing for the next World Cup. We have to look for players who could be there in 2015 and, if they have potential, we should start giving them proper chances."