He lives in Sydney with his young family and already has a busy schedule throughout the year. He serves as coach of the San Francisco Unicorns in Major League Cricket and has commentary commitments with Star Sports in ICC events as well as the Indian Premier League. He has previously worked for two seasons under Ricky Ponting as an assistant for Delhi Capitals in the IPL.

The PCB are understood to have been impressed by what he has brought to the Gladiators as well as the interpersonal relationships he has been able to strike. But the likelihood of the two parties reaching a deal will depend upon how much time the PCB requires the head coach to spend in Pakistan. When Mickey Arthur was pursued by the board last year, he was offered a flexible role that allowed him to juggle a coaching role with Derbyshire in the English county season alongside his position of Director of Cricket with Pakistan, with Grant Bradburn appointed the full-time head coach.

To that end, Sammy is also believed to be in the reckoning, with his long-standing relationship with Pakistan cricket counting in his favour. Sammy is West Indies' current limited-overs coach but is hugely popular within Pakistan since his days as captain of Peshawar Zalmi, most notably deciding to tour the country for the 2017 PSL final, with all overseas players from his side following him to the country when Quetta Gladiators' overseas players opted to stay away. He is currently head coach of Peshawar Zalmi, who have also qualified for the playoffs this season.

Pakistan's appointment of coaches has been complicated by the instability of the administrative side of the PCB. Former PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf decided to remove Arthur and Bradburn after an indifferent World Cup, sending Hafeez to lead the tours to Australia and New Zealand instead despite having no coaching experience. Arthur and Bradburn were in turn only appointed during Ashraf's predecessor Najam Sethi's brief stint at the helm.