KARACHI: Pakistan’s former chief selector at junior and senior level, Haroon Rasheed confessed that he was offered money so many times to select players.Â
In an exclusive interview in ARY News’ show Bouncer, Rasheed said chief selectors often work under a lot of pressure.
“There is no doubt that selectors work under immense pressure. I have experienced so many things that people don’t know,” he said.
“Being a junior selector and head coach, I received many offers to take the money and select players in the squad. Before one of our matches against India’s U19 team, I was offered a blank cheque to select a player. But, I always denied those offers and selected players on merit, ” he added.
Younis Khan’s selection
The former chief selector shared that he was the one who spotted talent in the only Pakistani to score 10,000 in Test cricket, Younis Khan.
“In 1994, New Zealand U19 team came here and I was national team’s selector and head coach. I selected Younis Khan in the squad so Javed Burki called me and questioned his selection out of the given players’ pool. I showed confidence in his selection and after one and a half years, he made his debut for Pakistan,” Rasheed disclosed.
Waqar, Moin, Inzamam, Mushtaq
Rasheed claimed that Waqar Younis, Moin Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq, and Mushtaq Ahmed didn’t know the basics of the game despite being talented cricketers.
“Waqar, Moin, Inzamam, and Mushtaq worked with me at junior level. They were exceptional talent but when it comes to game awareness, they had zero. I was surprised to see them in such a state and I observed that lack of skilled coaching at grassroots was the reason behind it,” he stated.
“In my report, I suggested PCB involve skilled coaches and techniques at grassroots to aware players about the game,” he concluded.