http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-c89347 Afridi not being targeted, clarifies Pakistan Cricket Board – Cricket News Update
Reacting sharply to former one-day captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 Cricket Board (PCB) has insisted that it is not running a campaign to malign the all-rounder.
Speaking to newsmen, an official of the PCB said, “There is no campaign against Afridi.”
On Saturday, the 31-year-old Afridi had vowed to respond to the allegations levelled by the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128, against the batsman.
Last week, Butt in an interview, accused Afridi of being the reason behind Pakistan’s loss in the fourth and fifth One Day Internationals (ODIs) against West Indies in the five-match series.
“In my opinion, he made us lose the fourth and fifth ODIs. Our policy was to appoint a captain after every series and he knew that. As far as I’m concerned he’s not captaincy material for the PCB anymore,” said Butt in the interview.
After these statements, Afridi, who is currently in England playing the Friends Life T20 tournament for Hampshire, expressed disappointment over the attitude of the PCB chairman and insisted that such statements should not be made now that he has buried
the hatchet with the PCB.
However, the official of the PCB rebuffed Afridi’s reservations and insisted that Butt’s comments were taken out of context.
“The comments by the chairman have just been made in the light of [team manager] Intikhab Alam’s report on the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 tour,” the official reiterated.
Afridi who announced his retirement from international cricket on May 31, 2011, after being stripped off from his captaincy because of blasting the team management for meddling in the selection matters during the Caribbean tour, blamed Butt for ruining cricket
in the country and also criticized team manager http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Intikhab-Alam-Khan-c64382, calling him a “hypocrite”.
After these bitter remarks, the Board revoked the player’s No Objection Certificate (NOC) and also terminated his central contract.
However, since it was mandatory for the all-rounder to possess an NOC to represent http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hampshire-c789, Afridi vowed to take a legal action against PCB by submitting a petition in the Sindh High Court against the decision of the Board.
Nevertheless, the matter was resolved outside court after political interference by Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik.
Afridi agreed to stand before PCB’s disciplinary committee which fined him 4.5 million Rupees for violating the code of conduct by giving statements to the media without the consent of the Board.
The former skipper accepted the decision of the disciplinary committee and subsequently received the NOC he required.
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