"I am surprised at Waqar''s statement on Shoaib that he isstill half-fit and working hard to gain match-fitness. Whatdoes he mean by that? Even if Shoaib is not fully fit thecoach is not supposed to say these things about a player at amedia conference," Moin said.
Moin, who was a member of Pakistan''s 1992 World Cupwinning team and was also in the side which made the final inthe 1999 even,t said he had played lot of cricket alongsideWaqar.
"We played a lot of cricket together but after he becamecaptain in 2002 there was a clear change in his attitude andthis led to groupings within the team in the 2003 World Cup,"Moin recalled.
"Younis Khan, Shoaib, Shahid Afridi were members of that2003 World Cup squad and the memories of that event wouldstill be fresh in their minds that is why I am concerned theway Waqar has talked about the fitness of Shoaib," he added.
Moin said that it was most unfortunate that since theteam left for the World Cup, the captain, coach and managerhave constantly talked about the fitness of Shoaib.
"I don''t know the reason for highlighting the fitnessissues of Shoaib in the media. It would have been better ifthey had kept it away from the media and discussed it withShoaib in private given he is not fully fit," the formerwicketkeeper-batsman said.
"I just feel that if the team management had anyreservations over the fitness of Shoaib why was he selected inthe World Cup squad in the first place. Why take such a bigrisk for such a big event? Now is the time for Waqar and thecaptain and manager to support and back Shoaib in the mediaand not criticise his fitness." PTI Cor PM
