Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan has indicated that Haroon Rasheed could be retained in the management team for the upcoming series against India, contrary to earlier reports that he would be replaced.
"We have taken no decision on changing him [Haroon] as yet. The factual position is that we are looking to appoint a manager for the Indian tour keeping in mind the sensitivities involved in it," Shaharyar was quoted as saying by Pakistan daily The News on Friday.
"Take my own example. In 1999 when we went to India the Board had appointed Mian Munir as the manager. But then they appointed me as manager because of my diplomatic background while Munir went as assistant manager," he added.
"So there is every likelihood that we might appoint a main manager who will look after the diplomatic and political issues on the tour while we will also have an assistant manager to take care of other matters," Shaharyar said.
Rasheed, a former Test cricketer, had a two-year tenure as the Pakistan team manager which began in April 2003 but the PCB last month had decided to replace him with someone who could "handle the diplomatic front" also due to sensitivities attached with the Indian tour.
Shaharyar said the Board would carefully select a candidate for the job and did not rule out the possibility of Haroon being retained as assistant manager for the Indian tour.
"We are looking carefully at several candidates for the main managerial post for the tour and selection would be made very carefully after taking a lot of things into consideration because it is going to be a very important tour from every angle," he said.
The PCB chief had said a few days back that Haroon would not be retained as manager for the Indian tour.
"All this talk about a new manager has evolved because of the requirement for a seasoned man to be at the head of affairs in India to handle diplomatic and political issues. But It's not fair to use this to say that Haroon is going to be axed because we are not happy with his performance," the PCB chief insisted.