|
PCB action: Misbah new ODI captain
May 27, 2011
Players’ power in the national cricket team is the big problem to bring some good results continuously as in every decade Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) face lot of difficulties over the player’s power issue but the current PCB management led by Ijaz Butt taking strong steps to destroy the player’s power in the national cricket team as ODI captain Shahid Afridi's replacing with Misbah-ul-Haq for the two ODIs against Ireland at the end of this month.
In past the heads of Pakistan Cricket Board gave the relaxation to the players like Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Inzimam ul Haq, Amir Sohail and others which broken the these code of conduct and appeared in the night clubs and other light night activities and no action taken by the past managements. But now the current PCB administration cleared every one that they will be no compromise over discipline and code of conduct for the players which set by PCB and any if any player violate the code of conduct he should face the disciplinary action.
Cricket World Cup 2011 captain Shahid Afridi also violated the PCB players code of conduct as Afridi gave the some controversial comments after returning to Pakistan from the Caribbean after winning the five matches ODI series by -3-2. Pakistan Cricket Board didn’t hesitate to sent the explanation letter to the captain which demands written answer of the explanation letter.
Taking strong steps by the PCB management Misbah-ul-Haq appointed captain to replace Shahid Afridi as one-day captain for a two one day international matches series against Ireland this month. Afridi took over as ODI captain properly in June last year, before the Asia Cup, having been appointed the Twenty20 captain the previous year. He was never given the leadership on a full-time basis, but first irked the board by walking away from the Test captaincy on the tour to England, one Test after being appointed. Misbah, currently the Test captain, now becomes the fifth ODI captain under the near three-year tenure of Butt; there have also been six Test captains in that time.
Afridi does retain a place in the 16-man squad for the two ODIs on May 28 and 30. Three changes have been made from the ODI squad that defeated West Indies. Opener Ahmed Shehzad, middle-order batsman Usman Salahuddin and fast bowler Sadaf Hussain have been dropped. In their place come Azhar Ali, Younis Khan and Umar Gul; Younis and Gul were both rested for the Caribbean ODI trip and Younis missed the Test series after his brother passed away.
One of PCB source said that PCB gave full authority to Shahid Afridi but his (Afridi) attitude disappointed as the team management was not haapy with him during ODI matches against West Indies. “Afridi was never the ideal option for captaincy and was given the role on a series-to-series basis”, source added.
Talking to this scribe Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ijaz Butt said that PCB will not accept or compromise any grouping or player power in the national squad as we will completely eradicate the player power adding that to crush player power, I penalized even prominent players like Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal without showing any reluctance which in the past had damaged the team spirit.
He said that we are trying our best and using all contacts to ring back the International cricket to Pakistan as in coming days Afghanistan national team will be here to play three one day matches. Butt also highlighted the financial successes under his administration, nearly three years old now.
No international side has toured Pakistan since the Lahore attacks on Sri Lanka's cricketers and support staff in March 2009 and the 2011 World Cup was taken away, but Butt said the board's reserves had increased to Rs. 3.2 billion (US $ 37.7 million).
"We achieved this despite playing our home series at neutral venues," he said. "The PCB was financially weak with the reserves of Rs1.6 billion (US $ 18.8 million) when I took over the charge and it owed over Rs1 billion (US $ 11.7 million) to different parties."
Ireland have got progressively better since then and stood out among the Associate teams in the 2011 World Cup in the sub-continent and shown some good performance in the cricket world cup 2011 to shocked strong England in the pool match will host two ODI matches series against Pakistan. The two ODIs against Pakistan will be played at Stormont, Belfast on May 28 and May 30.
Pakistan ODI Squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Salman (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Tanvir Ahmed, Junaid Khan, Hammad Azam
|