Akhtar likely to be appointed as Pakistan's bowling consultant

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is mulling over approaching former speedster Shoaib Akhtar for the bowling consultant role as it continues its search for big names to mentor cricketers at the National Cricket Academy (NCA)

Akhtar's name has come into consideration because of the unavailability of former pacer Aqib Javed, whose name was earlier finalized for the role.

Recently, veteran Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf was hired as a batting consultant at the NCA by the country's cricket board.

While former skipper Rashid Latif has been offered to join the role of wicket-keeping consultant, the PCB is still looking for someone to mentor the off-spinners after Saqlain Mushtaq, who was picked

for the post, was roped in by the England team as bowling consultant for their ongoing tour of India.

These recent appointments have raised many eyebrows, especially when the NCA already has a team of coaches led by former leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed.

Defending the decision, NCA Senior General Manager Ali Zia said the appointments of such prominent names would be in the best interest of the young cricketers.

"The former cricketers being appointed as consultants will be assigned special tasks. They will be working with cricketers playing at the U16 level all the way to players of the national team," Zia was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune.

"These cricketers have loads of experience and it would be highly beneficial for our cricketers especially the youngsters," he added.