Intikhab Alam offered coach's role

Pakistan's coaches in the last 10 years Sept 1998: Javed Miandad takes over from Haroon Rasheed. April 1999: Miandad resigns after falling out with senior players and is replaced by Mushtaq Mohammad for the 1999 World Cup. Aug 1999: Mushtaq is sacked after the World Cup. Wasim Raja steps in. Nov 1999: English-born Richard Pybus becomes Pakistan's first foreign coach. Dec 1999: Intikhab Alam takes over after Pybus is axed following Pakistan's 3-0 rout in a Test series in Australia. March 2000: Miandad replaces Alam after Pakistan lose the home series to Sri Lanka. April 2001: Miandad is replaced by Pybus after Pakistan's tour of New Zealand Sept 2001: Pybus refuses to come to Pakistan for security reasons after 9/11. Mudassar Nazar takes over. Sept 2002: Nazar summoned home midway through ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka and Pybus returns for a third stint. March 2003: Pybus says he does not want to stay on after Pakistan were knocked out in the first round of the World Cup. Miandad returns as coach. June 2004: Miandad sacked after Pakistan lose the one-day and Test series against India at home. July 2004: Bob Woolmer takes over. March 2007: Woolmer is found dead in his Jamaica hotel room hours after Pakistan crash out in the first round of the World Cup in the West Indies. July 2007: Geoff Lawson is appointed as coach. Oct 2008: Lawson two-year tenure is cut short; Alam appointed for ODI series against West Indies to be played in Abu Dhabi.

Intikhab Alam has emerged as the leading contender for the position of Pakistan coach after the removal of Geoff Lawson yesterday.

Intikhab said he has been offered a two-year contract but added that an official announcement will come from the board. "Yes, chairman Ijaz Butt has talked to me and offered a contract for two years. But they will officially announce it next month," Intikhab said.

There was initially some confusion, however, as Butt said Intikhab had only been appointed for the one-day series in Abu Dhabi against West Indies in November. "Intikhab will be coach for the Abu Dhabi series but we are considering two or three candidates for a long-term contract," Butt said.

But it later emerged that Intikhab was the leading long-term candidate and only a formal approval was needed. "We would like to appoint Alam for a two-year contract, but the final decision will be announced after we take the approval of (PCB's) governing board members," Butt told AP.

On the task at hand, Intikhab said, "It's not an easy job and I have taken up this assignment as a big challenge. Nobody is (player) bigger than the game and instilling discipline among the players will be my priority."

The PCB released Lawson from his contract with three months compensation pay insisting they were not satisfied with his performance. Lawson, who was supposed to complete a two-year contract with the national team next year in August, is still in Lahore. The new administration has been keen to hire a local coach, and the names of Javed Miandad and Aamer Sohail have also cropped up.

Intikhab has a successful track record as coach, having first been at the helm when Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup and then in 2000. He has also coached the Indian Punjab team in their domestic Ranji Trophy tournament for two seasons, taking them to the final in 2004-05.

Since 1997, Pakistan have had nine different coaches, some of whom, like Javed Miandad and Richard Pybus have been in the position more than once.

Confusion over Lawson's outstanding payment

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has downplayed the prospects of impending legal complications with Geoff Lawson, the outgoing Pakistan coach, of outstanding dues owed to him after the termination of his contract.

Lawson was removed from his post yesterday and given three months salary as per his contract agreement. But as Cricinfo reported yesterday, it is believed that the amount given to Lawson with his termination notice was "thousands and thousands of dollars" less than what it should have been. As a result the cheque was sent back to board officials by Lawson and the discrepancy in amounts pointed out.

"I believe something has come back from Lawson regarding the outstanding payment," Salim Altaf, director-general PCB, told Cricinfo. "There is no major problem and if there is a difference then it will be handled by our lawyers as per the contract and sorted out."

The error may have come from the fact that Lawson had apparently been paid his salary in advance till December 31, 2008. As he was fired on October 24, a three-month compensation package would mean that he was paid till January 24, 2009. Having been paid till the end of the year, he is now, according to the PCB, owed money for 24 days.

It is believed that Lawson has contacted the Australian High Commission for legal advice on the matter and will not leave Pakistan until the matter is satisfactorily resolved.

'Nowhere did I accuse Sachin of lying'

Adam Gilchrist: "I am pleased to say that at the conclusion of our chat the same respect Sachin and I have always had for each other continues to exist".

Adam Gilchrist has insisted that he did not accuse Sachin Tendulkar of lying while presenting evidence in the racism hearing after the controversial Sydney Test. He also denied calling him a “bad sport” after observing that it was often hard to locate Tendulkar for an after-match handshake following Indian losses.

Gilchrist's comments, quoted from his soon-to-be released autobiography True Colours, caused a stir in India and both players confirmed they had spoken to each other and agreed that the remarks were taken out of context. The main issue surrounded the racism hearing of the Indian offspinner Harbhajan Singh.

Harbhajan was accused of racially abusing Andrew Symonds and was suspended for three Tests but later had his ban overturned on appeal. Tendulkar was batting with Harbhajan when the incident occurred and Gilchrist observed that the evidence Tendulkar gave during the match referee’s hearing was different from that he presented during the appeal.

“All I stated are the facts that everyone knows, that initially Sachin mentioned he wasn't sure what Harbhajan had said, then later confirmed his support when Harbhajan said he'd used a Hindi word in the heated exchange with Symonds,” Gilchrist wrote in his column for the Times of India. “Nowhere do I accuse Sachin of lying. So to have spoken directly with Sachin about these matters was a great relief for me."

However MV Sridhar, the Indian team manager for the tour who was present at both the hearings, first with Mike Procter and then with Justice John Hansen, contradicted Gilchrist's statements. Sridhar said Tendulkar had told Procter that he had heard some form of abuse but the match referee did not probe further. Later, Sridhar said, Tendulkar told Hansen he had heard Harbhajan say teri maa ki but clarified that it was an abbreviated form of an abuse.

“I am pleased to say that at the conclusion of our chat the same respect Sachin and I have always had for each other continues to exist. The headlines arose from the manner in which some journalists interpreted a couple of points I have made in an about-to-be released autobiography.”

Gilchrist said the Harbhajan hearing was too big an issue to ignore in his book. “My only real reference to it was to recall the way the events unfolded from the initial hearing, the night the match finished, through to the final judicial hearing a few weeks later.”

Gilchrist said the references to Tendulkar not shaking his hand in the changing rooms after Tests were merely to highlight the cultural differences between the two countries. He said he never intended to question Tendulkar’s sportsmanship.

“In the book, I mention that a cultural difference between our team and that of the Indians was the importance of shaking hands with the opposition after a loss," he said. "It's simply my thoughts and from my experiences it seemed that this routine wasn't as important to some oppositions as it was in Australia, where it is drilled into us from an early age.

”I made the comment that Sachin and Harbhajan were sometimes not around to shake hands. Whether that is right or wrong is not my point. It was more the cultural differences I was trying to highlight, which it's fair to say, have been integral in most disputes or flare-ups between these two proud nations in the past.”

Gilchrist said he had nothing against India and that he had always enjoyed touring the country. “I also feel that people who know me, or people who read the book in its entirety, will know only too well the sincere affection I have for India as a country and the very friendly, passionate people that live here.”

Angry Harbhajan lashes out at Gilchrist

The war of words involving Adam Gilchrist, Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh has continued.

Harbhajan Singh has hit back at Adam Gilchrist’s comments on Sachin Tendulkar and said that Gilchrist was not respected anyway due to his own on-field behaviour. Gilchrist labelled as a “joke” the evidence Tendulkar gave in January during the hearing into Harbhajan’s alleged racist remarks against Andrew Symonds.

“He should not be talking about Sachin. It is all rubbish," Harbhajan told the Age. "We don't respect him. He pretends to be a saint and people say he walks when he nicks, but why did he appeal when batsmen don't nick?

"He always changes his mind according to a situation. If Australia is close to a victory he is always going up [appealing], whether it is out or not out. We don't need him to say these things [about Tendulkar] just because he is retired."

Harbhajan was alleged to have called Symonds a monkey and was initially suspended for three Tests, although the ban was overturned on appeal. Gilchrist was annoyed that Tendulkar told the appeal Harbhajan had used a Hindi term that sounded like monkey, although he had earlier given evidence that he could not hear Harbhajan’s comment.

"I don't want to talk about that episode again and again. It is over," Harbhajan said. "If you talk to any guy who plays or follows cricket about Sachin Tendulkar, they will talk about the respect he commands. These guys can't come close to him. I am really shocked."

Harbhajan said the ill-feeling between the two sides that spilled over in the series in Australia had long since passed. He said both teams had played in the right spirit in the first two Tests in India this month.

"We are very focused on cricket and on the next Test in Delhi," Harbhajan said. "We know Australia will come back very strong. It has been a great series so far. There have been no dramas in the first two Tests. I hope the next two will be played in the gentleman's spirit."