{"id":475922,"date":"2025-05-02T09:29:54","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T04:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadpakistan.com.pk\/news\/?p=475922"},"modified":"2025-05-02T09:29:54","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T04:29:54","slug":"azhar-expresses-interest-in-pak-coaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadpakistan.com.pk\/news\/azhar-expresses-interest-in-pak-coaching\/","title":{"rendered":"Azhar expresses interest in Pak coaching"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 50-year-old confirmed his intention to apply for the position<br \/>\n Lahore<br \/>\nFormer Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood has expressed interest in becoming the next head coach of the national men\u2019s cricket team, as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) continues its search to fill the high-profile role.<br \/>\nSpeaking to a local sports platform, the 50-year-old confirmed his intention to apply for the position.<br \/>\n\u201cI\u2019m definitely going to apply for the Pakistan team head coach role,\u201d Azhar stated.<br \/>\nCurrently serving as an assistant coach, Azhar has previously held the role of bowling coach and remains a familiar figure in Pakistan\u2019s coaching setup.<br \/>\nHis announcement comes at a crucial time, with the PCB looking to finalise its coaching staff ahead of a packed international schedule, including preparations for the upcoming T20 World Cup.<br \/>\nMeanwhile, the cricket board is actively engaged in consultations regarding the new head coach appointment. A final decision is expected after the May 4 application deadline.<br \/>\nAmong the frontrunners is Mike Hesson, former New Zealand coach and current head coach of Islamabad United.<br \/>\nHis name has been under serious consideration during ongoing discussions, and insiders suggest he is a strong candidate for the role.<br \/>\nHesson, who coached New Zealand from 2012 to 2018, has also built a solid reputation in franchise cricket, including roles in the Indian Premier League (IPL).<br \/>\nIf appointed, he would be tasked with leading Pakistan\u2019s white-ball squads, starting with the upcoming T20I series against Bangladesh from May 25.<br \/>\nThe T20I series will be played at two venues &#8211; Faisalabad and Lahore &#8211; from 25 May to 3 June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 50-year-old confirmed his intention to apply for the position Lahore Former Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood has expressed interest in becoming the next head coach of the national men\u2019s cricket team, as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) continues its search to fill the high-profile role. Speaking to a local sports platform, the 50-year-old confirmed his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-475922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Azhar expresses interest in Pak coaching<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/leadpakistan.com.pk\/news\/azhar-expresses-interest-in-pak-coaching\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Azhar expresses interest in Pak coaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 50-year-old confirmed his intention to apply for the position Lahore Former Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood has expressed interest in becoming the next head coach of the national men\u2019s cricket team, as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) continues its search to fill the high-profile role. 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