http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s World Cup Captain to be announced on February 4th
Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128 said that the board will be declaring the World Cup Captain on February 4th, 2011; a day before the final One Day match of the ongoing series against New Zealand.
“We will announce the captain on February 4 that is decided now,” Butt clarified while talking to Pakistani journalists in Napier, New Zealand.
However, the PCB chairman refused to comment on the captaincy tussle between current Pakistani skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 for the coveted event that goes underway from February 19th.
The PCB selection panel and the Board have been under fire as they did not name a Captain for the much awaited event, when they announced the 15-man World Cup squad.
The delay came as a surprise for many, with Pakistani Coach Waqar Younis being very vocal about the issue. He remarked that it was “surprising” that the Captain was not named since all the teams have declared their Captains.
It was rumoured that Younis was backing Afridi; resultantly PCB had to issue a notice to Younis to explain his comments. In response, Younis expressed his regret for the comments saying that he will be “careful” in the future.
It was also speculated that the delay in naming the Captain was due to the successful performance of the “men in green” under Misbah’s leadership. Pakistan has not lost a match during the last four Test matches under Misbah’s captaincy. He also led the side to stamp Pakistan’s first Test series win since 2006 after defeating New Zealand 1-0 earlier in January.
On the other hand, Afridi has failed to rake in a One Day series victory for his country in recent times. Pakistan came close to defeating http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 and England in 2010; however, both the series ended up with Pakistan failing to seal a win after losing the final match on both occasions.
However, many former players have been favouring Afridi as they warned that such a change close to the event might hamper Pakistan’s chances for the World Cup that is scheduled to take place in the Subcontinent.
Former Pakistan Captain Shoaib Malik, who missed out a chance to be in the 15-man squad, also backed Afridi on Monday.
“Changing captains frequently has already damaged the team in the past,” Malik commented.
Sources close to the PCB suggest that the PCB chairman, who flew to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 to deliberate on the issue, is most likely to announce Afridi as the Captain.
Yet, the chairman has repeatedly denied indulging in the debate. Butt, however, disclosed that the PCB has reached a breakthrough with the Board of Control for Cricket in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 (BCCI) over resuming cricket ties.
"However, decisions would be made at the government level on the series but the Indian board has shown its willingness to play which is good news for us," Butt said.
Tags: