Pakistani bowling legend Wasim Akram on Sunday recommended foreign coaches for both the Pakistani and Indian cricket teams, saying their players felt at ease with overseas experts.
"I think the culture in Pakistan and India is such where the players feel at ease with a foreign coach, so I feel that a foreigner can help in a better way," Wasim, a former Pakistan captain, told AFP.
Australians Steve Rixon and Dav Whatmore would suit Pakistan and India respectively, the oonetime left-arm paceman said Both countries, fierce cricket rivals, are looking for new coaches after failed campaigns in the World Cup earlier this year.
Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer died in the team's hotel in Jamaica barely a day after his team crashed out of the competition following defeat against extreme outsiders Ireland.
India dispensed with Australian coach Greg Chappell in the wake of team's failure to go beyond the first round after an upset defeat by Bangladesh. Whatmore is the frontrunner in India, but Pakistan are looking at various possibilities, including Rixon, Leicestershire county coach Tim Boon, Australian Geoff Lawson and Whatmore.
Wasim praised Rixon, saying an Australian can bring much-needed aggression.
"Rixon can guide this young Pakistan side well because he has the experience of taking forward a young New Zealand side and groomed Stephen Fleming," said Wasim of Rixon, who coached New Zealand from 1996 to 1999.
"I have played with Boon but know little about him as coach," Wasim added.
A foreign coach needed to have adequate support, including direct contact with the top man running cricket affairs, or else people in between can create problems, he said. The latter difficulty affected Woolmer, according to Wasim. Woolmer became Pakistan coach in June 2004
"To me, Woolmer did some good things for Pakistan cricket. He used to experiment and introduced new things, but a lot of problems were created for him," said Wasim.
Whatmore's preference was to replace Chappell as Indian coach, Wasim said.
"It is not necessary that a great player can prove a good coach and Chappell's main weakness was that he did not remain positive and was not fully behind Indian captain Rahul Dravid. Whatmore should overcome this."
Whatmore guided Sri Lanka to the World Cup title in 1996. He also coached Bangladesh to upset wins over India and South Africa in the most recent edition of the competition in the Caribbean two months ago.
Wasim, who supervised a training camp for fast bowlers last week, said he wanted to set up a fast bowling foundation.
"I did not charge the board any penny because I want all the money to go in the fast bowling foundation so that we can groom fast bowlers for the future," he said.
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