Misbah remains accountable, will be questioned soon: Ehsan Mani

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani has revealed that head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq remains accountable for the team's performance and will be asked to review his and the team's performance of the past one year in a meeting soon, Daily Dawn reported on Sunday.

When Misbah was given the dual roles last year, the argument made was that the authorities wanted to give one man the absolute authority so that in case of failure that sole individual could be held responsible instead of it becoming a finger pointing exercise.

Pakistan's performances during Misbah's first year has been less than impressive, with the team failing to improve its ODI and Test rankings but sliding down from first to fourth in T20Is - a format considered their comfort zone.

READ: PCB not considering replacing Misbah-ul-Haq, dual role will be subject to policy changes

Mani told Dawn that he is fully cognizant of the team's slide and that the matter will be discussed with Misbah.

"I believe in empowerment and that’s precisely why Misbah was given full authority and support. But he very much remains accountable and as part of his appraisal process, he will be interviewed by the PCB Cricket Committee in the coming weeks in which he will be asked to reflect on his own and team’s performances, and share his vision for the future," the PCB chair is quoted as saying.

'Previous regimes paid to bring back international cricket; ours is organic' 

Mani, in the same interview, touched upon several topics, one such was his own regime's performance, which he rated himself very highly, and certainly above the previous administrations, in particular the one headed by Najam Sethi - an avowed critic of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who appointed Mani.

"Although every administration tried their best during their tenures, this management has achieved what others could not, at least, in the past decade," Mani is quoted as saying.

While he did not explicitly name Sethi’s setup, the PCB head said that whatever little international cricket came Pakistan’s way was not organic but achieved through “inducements”.

“International teams were unwilling to come to Pakistan because of the trust deficit. In 2017 and 2018, the PCB paid for the World XI and West Indies players to visit here and while I acknowledge these were ice-breakers, we have hosted four international series as part of the Future Tours Programme without offering any inducements,” he said.

READ: Misbah-ul-Haq not pleased with new coach appointments at HPC

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