Former West Indies captain Darren Sammy, who was head coach of PSL Peshawar Zalmi in season 9, said a clear no to the Pakistan Cricket Board when he was offered the opportunity to take over as head coach of the national team. Sammy becomes the second former cricketer, after Australian Shane Watson, to reject the offer to coach the senior team after weeks of rigorous discussions.
Like Darren Sammy, Shane Watson was also coaching a PSL 9 team – the Quetta Gladiators, who were eliminated from the competition in an Eliminator 1 match against Islamabad United. Peshawar Zalmi, on the other hand, suffered consecutive defeats, first in the last qualifying match against Multan Sultans and then against Islamabad in Playoff 2.
Darren Sammy turns down Pakistan coach job due to West Indies team commitments
Darren Sammy, who led the West Indies to the 2012 and 2016 ICC T20 World Cup titles, was refused to take over as Pakistan head coach due to his commitments to the former team’s white-ball set-up. Sammy joined as head coach of the West Indies ODI and T20I team in May 2023 and has overseen all team proceedings since then.
It was under his guidance as head coach that the West Indies failed to qualify for the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup in India, which was the first time in the history of the tournament. The two-time champions, who won the title in 1975 and 1979, first failed to qualify directly for the World Cup due to their qualification and then lost all three of their matches in the CWC qualifiers.
The West Indies had lost to Zimbabwe, the Netherlands and then minnows Scotland. It was the lowest point for the great cricket team that has had some legendary names like Clive Lloyd, Sir Viv Richards, Curtley Ambrose, Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy himself, among others.
The Windies now have a chance to shine on home soil when they co-host the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 alongside the USA, starting June 1. They have already won the title twice and a third will make them the most successful team. in the tournament as they are currently the most successful along with the current champions, England.
With a very important task ahead of him as the host nation, Darren Sammy rejected PCB’s request for him to become their head coach. The board had almost agreed with Shane Watson before offering Sammy, but the former ultimately rejected him due to his commentary duties in IPL 2024 and his head coach role with the San Francisco Unicorns in MLC Season 2. .
Sources make shocking revelation about Shane Watson’s U-turn after agreeing PCB deal
The source who reported that Darren Sammy does not want to be the head coach of the Pakistan national team also made a shocking revelation about why Shane Watson refused. Reports of Watson becoming the highest-paid coach in Pakistan cricket history leaked out and it was something the 50-over World Cup winner of 2007 and 2015 did not appreciate.
“However, after the PCB more or less agreed to Watson’s financial demands, the Australian cricketer was left displeased with details about the proposed package leaking to Pakistani media and social media.” – stated the source.
Meanwhile, PCB will resume their search for a coach and if none is found, boss Mohsin Naqvi will have to settle with an interim coach for their national camp which runs from March 25 to April 8.