Matthew Hayden, Vernon Philander

Picture Credit: Twitter

Former Australia cricketer Matthew Hayden and former South Africa speedster Vernon Philander have been appointed as coaches of the Pakistan men's cricket team for the upcoming T20 World Cup. The same was announced by the newly elected Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja during a press conference in Lahore on Monday.

Earlier, head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis had decided to step down from their respective roles ahead of the ICC event beginning in October. In their absence, former Pakistan cricketers Saqlain Mushtaq and Abdul Razzaq were named as the team's interim coaches for the New Zealand series.

"The quarantine in Jamaica post the West Indies series provided me with an opportunity to reflect on the past 24 months as well as the schedule for international cricket ahead. Considering that I would have had to continue to spend considerable time away from my family and that too in a bio-secure environment, I have decided to step down from the role," Misbah had said as quoted in PCB's official release.

"I understand that the timing may not be ideal but I don’t think I am in the right frame of mind for the upcoming challenges and it makes sense for someone fresh to step-in and take the side forward," he added.

In addition, Raja announced a 100,000 increase in the monthly salaries of each of the 192 contracted first-class players in the country.

Foreign coaches don't have a magic wand: Raja

Responding to a query from a journalist who asked the new PCB chairman why he preferred overseas coaches instead of coaches from their own country, he interrupted the journalist midway and told him to not ask a question for the heck of it. He added that had a local coach been appointed, the question would have been why wasn't an overseas coach appointed.

However, he admitted that even a coach of Hayden's standard does not have a magic wand and make a player play like Viv Richards overnight. He hinted that there could be an official from Pakistan itself added to the coaching group for the World Cup.

In 103 Tests, Hayden scored 8625 runs along with 6133 and 1632 runs in ODIs and T20s and remained one of the best openers in world cricket during his playing days. On the other hand, Philander has over 200 wickets at the Test level and over 100 wickets in limited-overs cricket.