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Sunday, August 29, 2010

Differences in Pak dressing room may cause trouble: Source

The Pakistan cricket camp could be heading for yet another controversy after the reports emanated from the touring squad in England that captain Salman Butt was not seeing eye to eye with the coach and a particular group is still calling the shots in the national team.

Details collected by this correspondent have confirmed that there was plenty of resentment in the Pakistan dressing room after the second day of the fourth Test against England.
"The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board Ijaz Butt who is in London was unhappy with the performance of the players and conveyed to them that if they couldn't perform they could leave the team, he would find replacements for them," one insider said.
"Butt gave them a piece of his mind and some of the players resented the way he conveyed his feelings to them," the insider added.
Pakistan allowed England to recover from a precarious 50 for five to 347 for seven at stumps on the second day with clear on-field tactical blunders by the captain and other players being noticed.
Sources said that Salman Butt himself was not very happy that he still didn't have complete authority to take decisions and that the coaching staff and management were dictating to him.
"Coach Waqar Younus and his assistant coaches and the management are in a strong position and are backing a particular group in the team which is causing issues," one source said.
The Pakistani media tore into the team management after Waqar and assistant manager Shafqat Rana were shown in dancing and celebrating the fall of the early England wickets on television.
"What happened to the celebrations at the end of the day and that is what Ijaz Butt also asked of the players," the source said.
Waqar also had differences with the chief selector, Mohsin Khan during the selection of the one-day squad as he wanted some players to be retained but his suggestions were rejected by the chief selector.
Pakistan cricket since last year has been hit by several controversies mainly created due to groupings in the team and because of player power.
"Even now certain players in the team call the shots and dictate terms and the way final playing elevens are finalised," the source said.
He said that chief selector Mohsin Khan had conveyed to the PCB Chairman that he was not satisfied with the way selection of the playing teams were made during the series.
"It is the prerogative of the tour selection committee to finalise the playing eleven in a series," the source explained.
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