TEAM AFRIDI

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Afridi may retire from ODIs

Pakistan’s former one-day captain Shahid Afridi is likely to retire from One Day International after his as skipper earlier in the week.
Sources said on Saturday that Afridi is really dejected on the way the PCB has dealt with him on his media leakages about his differences with head coach Waqar Younis.
Earlier on Thursday, PCB sacked Afridi as captain of the Pakistan’s One Day Internationals team and replaced him with Misbah-ul-Haq.
The decision was made for Pakistan’s upcoming two-match ODI series against Ireland where veteran top-order batsman Younus Khan will also join the team.
Afridi, who is in the United States for fund-raising purpose for a charity, is still part of the team as a regular player, but PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt had told media that his place in the team is not cemented and he will have to prove his abilities.
However Ijaz Butt told local media that Afridi wasn’t given any assurance of captaincy showing a state of anger in the top cricket board authorities after Afridi had told media about his differences with head coach Waqar Younis.
Following his remarks in the media, which wasn’t the first instance, the PCB had slapped Afridi with a notice demanding reasons for his media outburst. Following his media outburst, Afridi rapidly lost support in the cricket board for not abiding by the board rules and continuing to talk to media despite several warnings by Ijaz Butt, PCB chairman, and other top authorities.
Pakistan are having a tough schedule as after returning from West Indies, they are due to play two ODIs in Ireland and then they will be touring Zimbabwe in August but before that most of the stars will be in action in the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) for which the PCB has issued NOCs to Shahid Khan Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal.

'Sacking Afridi was in team interest'

PCB chief Ijaz Butt said the decision to remove Shahid Afridi as Pakistan's ODI captain was taken in the best interest of the side but refused to reveal the reasons for it.

Afridi was replaced by senior batsman Misbah-ul-Haq for the tour of Ireland.

"It is the board's right to change the captain and the decision was taken in the best interests of the team." Butt said in response to mounting criticism over his decision to sack Afridi as captain for the two-match series against Ireland later this month.

"Captains are changed all over the world and no cricket board gives a reason for that," he told the "Express Tribune" daily newspaper.

"We did what we thought was best and don't need to give a reason for it."

He also defended his decision to appoint Misbah saying that lack of options in the squad forced the move.

"We're looking at everyone's performance and discipline and we're trying to pinpoint a suitable candidate for the captain's position for the future," he explained.

Shahid Afridi's refusal to stay away from the media cost him the captaincy of Pakistan's ODI team as board officials said the all-rounder did not take warnings to keep "internal matters" to himself seriously.

Although some former Test players and administrators have criticised PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt for his decision to change appoint Misbah-ul-Haq as captain for the series against Ireland, insiders in the board said there were enough reasons for action.

"There were a number of factors involved in Butt's decision to remove Afridi as captain but the main reason was his refusal to listen to board warnings about repeatedly going to the media with internal matters," one official source said.

He said even before the ICC World Cup, Butt was not very keen on having Afridi as captain after a number of incidents and that is why the announcement of the captain was delayed.