Ijaz Butt Hints at the Possibility of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 losing his cap as the skipper of the National Team
The rocky relationship between the Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ijaz Butt and limited overs captain Shahid Afridi has further received another blow after Butt made it clear that no assurances had been given to the all-rounder regarding his future as the
skipper of the national team.
Talking on a television channel, Butt said, “No assurance has been rendered to Shahid Afridi as far as retaining him as skipper for the upcoming ODI tour of Ireland.”
The PCB chairman also revealed that in a previous meeting with Afridi he had told him that because of the player’s disciplinary issues, the PCB management was seriously considering someone else as his replacement.
Butt and chief selector http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972
or all-rounder http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Hafeez-c76898 as the new one-day skipper of Pakistan in place of the flamboyant Afridi for the series matches against the minnows.
Butt, revealed that the ODI team will be announced in the coming days.
The PCB chairman’s latest statements have thrown Afridi’s captaincy in limbo and the way things are going, Afridi seriously has to mend his relationship with Butt.
However, former Pakistan cricketers believe that Afridi has brought stability in the one-day squad and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 has shown a commendable performance under his leadership. Replacing him at this juncture may do more harm than good.
However, at the moment http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128 seems adamant in making sure that player power does not prevail and is willing to sacrifice Afridi for this cause.
The one-day captain rubbed the PCB the wrong way, two weeks back, when after returning from the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 he revealed that there were disputes within the team regarding the selection of the playing eleven in the last two matches of the five-match ODI series.
Apparently Afridi wanted to give youngsters a chance to have a swing at the Windies after the team had already won the series by beating the hosts in the first three matches.
However, head coach http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Waqar-Younis-Maitla-c96193 opposed the idea and wanted to retain the winning combination, this is said to have irked Afridi who almost threatened to pull out of the fourth and fifth match, although later he played the games which Pakistan subsequently
lost.
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