Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760
The chairman of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 Cricket Board (PCB) Ijaz Butt in a television interview came down hard on former one-day skipper Shahid Afridi as he blamed the 31-year-old all-rounder for the losses in the fourth and fifth One Day Internationals (ODIs) against
the West Indies during a five-match one-day series.
“I know this for a fact that because of him (Afridi) we lost the fourth and fifth ODIs,” said the 69-year-old Butt.
The PCB chairman and Afridi are facing estranged relationship ever since the flamboyant batsman accused the chairman of harming cricket in Pakistan.
Earlier, in May 2011, Afridi after losing the last two games in the Caribbean blamed the touring management for meddling in team selection before the two games. These accusations did not go down well with Butt as the PCB terminated the cricketer’s central
contract and revoked his NO Objection Certificate (NOC) required by the player to take part in County cricket after Afridi announced his retirement from international cricket.
However, the debacle gained media attention when Afridi decided to sue the board in order to redeem his NOC. On the other hand, Butt clarified that the cricketer had to stand before the inquiry committee of the PCB in order to retrieve his NOC.
The issue was resolved after the interference from Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik, who convinced Afridi and Butt to meet and resolve all outstanding issues outside court.
Subsequently, Afridi was slapped a fine of 4.5 million rupees after appearing before the inquiry committee. He was also provided his NOC, allowing him play for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hampshire-c789 in the Friends Life T20.
Before Afridi’s retirement, the board replaced him by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 as the new one-day captain of the national team. In the interview, Butt insisted that Misbah was the most appropriate man for the job as he enjoyed good repute among the team and management.
Nonetheless, the appointment of the 37-year-old Misbah ignited severe debate as to why an old player was chosen to replace Afridi. Critics suggested that the PCB should have appointed the 30-year-old Mohammad Hafeez to lead the team instead of Haq.
Butt while, talking about the future of Pakistan cricket, insisted that the PCB was taking steps to inject young blood in the team.
He regretted the banning of pacer Mohammad Amir who was banned from international cricket for five-years because of involvement in spot-fixing. Amir along with Salman Butt and seamer Mohammad Asif were convicted of taking bribes from a bookie named http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mazhar-c75448
Majeed for bowling deliberate no-balls in a Test against England at Lords in the summer of 2010.
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