<p class="title">Former West Indies allrounder Phil Simmons will step down from his position as Afghanistan coach after the end of the ICC men's World Cup.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Simmons, who took over the position in December 2017, said he has achieved his target of taking Afghanistan to the World Cup and the time is ripe for him to leave.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I have thought about it and I have actually given the ACB my notice that I will not be renewing my contract. I will move on to something different once my contract expires on July 15," Simmons told ESPNcricinfo.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Simmons' contract with Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) runs until the end of the World Cup and he might have been given an extension given Afghanistan's rise under his guidance.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I signed up originally for 18 months and I think I have done a lot in this period. It is time for me to move on to something else now. To want to get to the World Cup - that was ACB's goal at the time they appointed me," Simmons said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"My goal is always to leave things better than when I joined: the way we practice, the way we think about the game, the way we assess other teams. I've tried to help the players in all those areas," added the 56-year-old, under whom Afghanistan won the World Cup Qualifier last March.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Last month, ACB had controversially appointed Gulbadin Naib as ODI captain in place of Asghar Afghan, who had a four-year captaincy stint across all formats. The decision was slammed by top players such as Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The board also named Rahmat Shah and Rashid as skippers for the Test and T20I teams respectively.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Simmons said he had no clue about the decisions and he was not consulted before making those changes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"No, I was not aware of it. I was not given any reasons. It was the decision of the Afghanistan Cricket Board and the selectors," Simmons said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"How can I take it? I can't change it. So I have to just get on with what I have to do and make sure the squad is preparing in the same way I wanted them to prepare barring the (captaincy) change."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Afghanistan will open their World Cup campaign against five-time champions Australia on June 1. </p>
<p class="title">Former West Indies allrounder Phil Simmons will step down from his position as Afghanistan coach after the end of the ICC men's World Cup.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Simmons, who took over the position in December 2017, said he has achieved his target of taking Afghanistan to the World Cup and the time is ripe for him to leave.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I have thought about it and I have actually given the ACB my notice that I will not be renewing my contract. I will move on to something different once my contract expires on July 15," Simmons told ESPNcricinfo.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Simmons' contract with Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) runs until the end of the World Cup and he might have been given an extension given Afghanistan's rise under his guidance.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I signed up originally for 18 months and I think I have done a lot in this period. It is time for me to move on to something else now. To want to get to the World Cup - that was ACB's goal at the time they appointed me," Simmons said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"My goal is always to leave things better than when I joined: the way we practice, the way we think about the game, the way we assess other teams. I've tried to help the players in all those areas," added the 56-year-old, under whom Afghanistan won the World Cup Qualifier last March.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Last month, ACB had controversially appointed Gulbadin Naib as ODI captain in place of Asghar Afghan, who had a four-year captaincy stint across all formats. The decision was slammed by top players such as Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The board also named Rahmat Shah and Rashid as skippers for the Test and T20I teams respectively.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Simmons said he had no clue about the decisions and he was not consulted before making those changes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"No, I was not aware of it. I was not given any reasons. It was the decision of the Afghanistan Cricket Board and the selectors," Simmons said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"How can I take it? I can't change it. So I have to just get on with what I have to do and make sure the squad is preparing in the same way I wanted them to prepare barring the (captaincy) change."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Afghanistan will open their World Cup campaign against five-time champions Australia on June 1. </p>