Bob Woolmer used an oxygen mask to sleep: Shaharyar Khan

Pakistan diplomat and former chairman of their cricket board Shaharyar Khanrsquos book lsquoCricket Cauldron The Turbulent Politics of Sport in Pakistanrsquo promises to create a buzz in the cricketing world Shaharyar served as chairman of the Board from December 2003 to October 2006 and is credited for infusing stability to a muchmaligned establishment He accompanied the team on its historic tour of India in 1999 when India vs Pakistan Test ties resumed after 10 yearsu00a0Shaharyar spoke to PakPassionnet in the United Kingdom Shaharyar Khan with former Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer PicMiD DAY Archives I picked Inzy as captain Before I came in there were four or five captains going through a revolving door We had Rashid Latif Moin Khan sometimes somebody else It went on like that I felt this was bad for cricket When I came in I decided on InzamamulHaq and I stayed with him right until the end Inzamam attracted a certain amount of criticism But I remained consistent and constant with one captain and one set of selectors I wouldnrsquot tolerate fixers I wouldnrsquot tolerate I studied Justice Qayyumrsquos report very carefully There were eight or nine players who had been mentioned in varying degrees Of course Saleem Malik had been completely banned There were one or two others on whom were strictures These strictures were that they should not be captain again and so forth There were other players who were obviously involved in some kind of maligned activity We had to deal with that also I made it very clear that I would not tolerate any kind of drug abuse or matchfixing How we picked Woolmer It was not only that we were appointing an outside coach from abroad but also that we were replacing a national icon in Javed Miandad There was a lot of criticism after we had appointed Woolmer as coach We opted for a foreign coach after I was advised by people who I had respected particularly Rameez Raja We had a choice of three coaches Woolmer Barry Richards of South Africa and Greg Chappell of Australia These three were the likely contenders and we selected Woolmer Looking back it was a good choice because Bob did a wonderful job with the teamu00a0He was a very good man He refused to stay in a hotel which would have been costly but it was his right He stayed in the Academy in very simple quarters that he had been assigned He said he wanted to be close to the boys wanted to be able to have breakfast lunch and dinner with them and to be there for any one of them to come in and see him at any time He instituted a number of changes For instance he told me after the first few weeks lsquoyour team is very talented but theyrsquore not fit Theyrsquore only 20 fitrsquo He ensured an 80 fitness level increase in the next six months Woolmer was unfit I knew him to be a very simple guy I knew him also to be unfit He had a little paunch and used an oxygen mask before he went to sleep When he died suddenly during the World Cup it was clear to me that there was no foul play All the papers went to town They said that hersquos been strangled by one of the team or poisoned by someone who tried to knock him out because of the matchfixing business he had come up against all that kind of rubbish Inzy the dictator The relationship really turned sour after what happened at The Oval in 2006 I saw that player power was taking over For instance Bob Woolmer had asked one or two people to come in and coach So John Snow the veteran England fast bowler and the wicket keeper Allan Knott were asked to come in for a day and help the boys but Inzamam said no He said he wouldnrsquot have them Inzamam ul Haq He also said there would be no practice on certain days and it was clearly an attempt well clearly the power had gone to his head Inzamam had his team behind him and things began to deteriorate from that point onwards It all ended with Oval Gate where the team didnrsquot obey or follow the directions that I gave the directions that Bob gave and a player like Zaheer Abbas gave They were adamant and said they would not play It led to a tremendous blot on the cricketing reputation of Pakistan and indeed it was a serious issue and sadly it was entirely avoidable but I think player power and Inzamamrsquos petulance was instrumental in this matter We didnrsquot want Hair We told the ICC before the England tour of 2006 that you can appoint anyone you like but wersquore not happy with this man Hair We are not happy with his attitude and the players are not happy either Appoint an Indian or another Australian but they wouldnrsquot listen Hair was appointed to a Pakistan series four times in five years The ICC was very insensitive toward our doubts and of course we were proved right Courtesy PakPassionnet u00a0