He was approached by Pakistan to work with them for the 1999 Cricket World Cup where they went on to be losing finalists to Australia. This led to his dismissal. He was then invited to coach Pakistan full-time during the later half of 1999 on a two-year contract, one day into his new contract there was a military coup and the cricket board that had appointed him was dissolved. He was sacked one month into the job, along with Wasim Akram after they lost the Test series to Australia.