Blind support for Afridi will only encourage bad behaviour

Fans of Shahid Afridi are beginning to portray him as a hero, someone that has sacrificed himself to get rid of the big problem in Pakistan cricket today, Mr Ijaz Butt the chairman. The question is, was Afridi really motivated by getting rid of Butt or has it always been about Afridi and his bitterness over being removed as ODI captain?

When Afridi was removed as captain, Butt stated that he had good reasons to do so and would reveal them in due course. It seems now, from statements made by coach Waqar Younis and manager Intikhab Alam that the reasons were to do with Afridi’s attitude and behaviour both on and off the field. Afridi responded to his sacking  as captain by announcing his conditional retirement, the condition being that the current Pakistan board be removed. His reason for retiring was that he had been humiliated by them. Losing the captaincy for reasons not made public is hardly a humiliation. Supporters of Afridi should remember that it was in fact just him losing the captaincy and that he wasn’t banned from playing and representing his country, and was in fact in the squad for the two ODIs against Ireland. Afridi chose to abandon his country on his own accord. It is why his later excuse that he’d play under any captain doesn’t quite wash.

Of course he did not quit immediately after being stripped of the leadership. He chose to sit out the Irish games using the reason that his father was ill. The problem was that he then turned up a few days later in England, ready to take up his county stint with Hampshire. In Afridi’s head his plan seemed to be going well, that is until the PCB decided to suspend his contract and revoke his No-Objection Certificate (NOC) after he announced his retirement on television with a few scathing remarks towards the board and coach. The revoking of the NOC caused Afridi to run home to Pakistan with his tail between his legs begging for it to be reauthorised. As soon as his NOC was revoked, all of a sudden he was ready to admit breaking the code of conduct and was keen to participate in any other action from the board, whereas before, he couldn’t care less.

A trouble free, unified and happy squad after winning the series in Ireland

Yet where was Afridi’s voice objecting to the PCB and Ijaz Butt whilst he still had his NOC? It seemed whilst Afridi was able to go and play for Hampshire, he had no concern for Pakistan cricket and who was at the helm. Take away his NOC and all of a sudden it’s ‘Afridi retired as a matter of principle against an unfair board’. His words on his return to Pakistan, where he said he had come back for his NOC, say it all. He was picked in the side, not banned from playing and quit himself just because the captaincy was taken away. He did not do it for Pakistan cricket, he did it for himself. It’s the same reason he bats selfishly without a care, and the same reason why he quit the Test captaincy mid-series. He is a loose cannon that needs to be controlled.

Is it possible that through the dislike of Butt, people have lost sight of Afridi’s misdemeanours? Is everything Ijaz Butt does just wrong? Though I am no fan of Ijaz Butt, if we take into the account statements made by Waqar and Intikhab, removing Afridi as captain was the right thing to do for the team. When Afridi did not have the power of captaincy, when he was not the center of attention, he quit serving his country and ran off to County Cricket to earn his money. When the board revoked his NOC, Afridi came crawling back all concerned.

The one good thing that may come out of this is that we may finally see Ijaz Butt removed as PCB chairman. If that were to happen though, it may send a signal to players that every time they disagree with something they can just throw their toys out of the pram and get their way like Afridi. The solution is that if Butt is removed, Afridi must be disciplined severely for the manner in which he went about things. There were clearly other ways of being heard if his sole intention was to get Butt removed for the good of Pakistan cricket.

The outspoken Afridi pays the price

Shahid Afridi has been removed as ODI captain for the upcoming one-day series against Ireland.

The 31-year-old helped guide Pakistan to the semi-finals of the World Cup earlier this year and was also in charge durin the recent 3-2 series victory over the West Indies, but has now been replaced by Misbah-ul-Haq, who will lead the side for the two games against Ireland in Belfast later this month.

“Afridi has been retained as a player in the one-day squad but the captaincy has gone to Misbah” the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt said.

Afridi recently spoke out against the PCB and accused them of interfering with his role as captain of the 50-over side during the recent series win in the Caribbean.

Pakistan’s governing body then responded disputing the accusation, and while they refused to give a reason for Afridi leaving the role, they maintained that it was PCB policy to monitor the role of captain on a “series by series basis”.

Afridi stepped down from the test side last summer and returned home following the conclusion of the series against the West Indies.

After that series Afridi was forced to explain himself after comments he made to the media.

“I don’t like people interfering in my domain. I think it would be better if everyone focused on his job in the team.” He said after the 5th ODI game, a remark which landed him in hot water with the PCB.

The 16-man squad including Afridi will now begin preparations for the games against Ireland which get underway on 28th May.

By Pete South

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Batting first, it was a weird kind of innings with Pakistan always threatening to charge but not quite getting away. Credit must go to the Irish bowlers, in particular big Boyd Rankin who gave a measly 11 runs off his four overs.

Kamran Akmal had another brilliant game both with the bat and with the gloves. With his 57 off 51 balls, it was the perfect innings for the batsmen coming in at the other end to have a go. Afridis 24 off just 13 balls was probably the other valuable innings because of his strike rate.

When it came to the bowling, Pakistan had to be quite patient in the beginning as the Irish showed their typical resilience. Then came Saeed Ajmal (4 for 19) and the man of the moment, Umar Gul (2 for 19) and a sense of inevitability crept in as the dark clouds began to circle above.

What was really disappointing, and something the host broadcaster should be ashamed of is that when Gul came onto to bowl, the cameras kept zooming in and focusing on he ball in his hand. This comes after Daniel Vettori’s comments about how he was surprised that Umar Gul was able to get reverse swing so early. I guess when we do see something awe inspiring, it is very difficult to believe so the conspiracies and allegations begin to come out. Yet this has been going on for 20 years now and enough is enough. Reverse swing is a legal skill; we can do it, you can’t – simple.

Gul was right on the mark again today shattering the stumps for both his wickets and getting a direct-hit run out. But what is most impressive about the man is his demeanour and the respect he shows for his opposition right after destroying their stumps. No screaming, jumping, chest pumping, cart wheeling star jumps but a gentle jog through to his team mates. A very useful way on conserving energy I say!

The Irish can leave with their heads held high having got further in the tournament than many of the more established sides. Their fielding was good and the bowling competitive throughout the tournament. One thing they will no doubt want to improve on is scoring more runs. Yet with some young players in the side and the fact that they do the basics very well, the future of Irish cricket looks very bright.

It’s just a shame the likes of Eoin Morgan and Ed Joyce, both Irish, chose to play for England when they would have been quite an important part of this team in this tournament and would have enjoyed a valuable experience. I doubt either will have much of a career for England due to the difficulty of getting into the side. Their excuse was that they wanted to play at the top level but that’s what Ireland just did. Joyce wasn’t even in the reckoning and Morgan is just an occasional substitution fielder. Bad choice boys.

As Pakistan go into the semis, looking to make it two finals in a row, the other teams will be hoping they don’t come up against this formidable bowling attack and a batting one which is beginning to find form.

The game marked the return of Abdul Razzaq to the international side and his breakthrough early in the New Zealand innings was vital in what was to follow and thus cannot be underestimated. He had a good day with the ball (2 for 17) although he didn’t get going with the bat; still not being able to play spinners the poor sod.

The star of the show was obviously Umar Gul with his record breaking figures of 5 for 6. It was the first time anyone has taken a 5-for in International Twenty20. Amazingly, he was on a hat-trick twice but never managed to convert either. In his interview after, he spoke of working on the yorkers and slower balls with coach Aqib Javed and said that he watched videos of Waqar and Wasim and boy did it show. Those figures will take some beating, and the fact that he is also number 3 and 7 on the Twenty20 best figures list, shows it wasn’t just luck.

Afridi was once again mesmeric with the ball and took, in our opinion, the best catch of the tournament so far.

Thankfully, the youngster Shahzaib Hasan was given another chance after his zero earlier in the tournament and he didn’t disappoint with his 35 of 28 balls. It was pleasing to see Afridi the batsmen smash 29 off 18; his performance clearly the result of a team feeling good after playing to their abilities.

Though we probably lost two wickets too many, it was more important that we got to the target quickly as possible as run rate will make the difference in what is a very close group now.

I hope the Pakistani players realise the happiness they bring to their people when they play like this. Even those not connected with Pakistan could not have felt anything but appreciation for the talent on display.

The highlight of the day for me was Sanjay Manjrekar who after witnessing the Pakistani performance said something along the lines of “this is why Pakistan needs to be playing international cricket”. Brilliant.

Next up, we lose to Ireland on Monday. Who’d be a Pakistan fan?

Pakistan’s pace men were guilty once again of giving the opposition and lightning start. Instead of going for glory, they need to bowl economically and not put pressure on their team mates. They should have been intelligent enough to realise the wicket taking role of our spinners in this tournament and thus complimented them by bowling tight and creating pressure. The Sri Lankan pace men, though slower, bowled excellent line and length and put our batsmen under pressure, causing wickets to fall. It made the difference in the end.

Though Gul did take two wickets, this was later in the innings when the ball was older. He should recognise this and bowl accordingly i.e. conservative new-ball first spell, attacking old-ball second. We must give credit to Aamer who showed the more experienced men how to bowl. With Razzaq back in contention, I feel Tanvir has probably played his last game in this tournament after being unable to find form and handle the swinging ball.

The spinners came on and put a halt on the Sri Lankan charge with excellent bowling once again from Afridi (2 for 23) and Ajmal (2 for 26). A special mention for Shoaib Malik who continues to bowl excellent containing spells, conceding just 5 from 2 overs. There was some improvement in the field but we cannot seem to hit the stumps for the life of us, unless of course the batsmen is well in his crease.

As for the batting, early wickets cost us the game. It will be for Salman Butt’s own good if they drop him from the twenty20 format completely. He is not that kind of batsmen, today we saw what happens when he tries to be. Had the openers contributed a little more, it would have made Malik’s, Younis’ and Misbah’s life a lot easier. There was some good attacking under pressure from Malik and a excellent partnership between Misbah and Younis (66) who seem to play Murali and Mendis better than most. Once they fell then it was just a formality for the Sri Lankan’s.

It’s New Zealand next up and with rain forcast for Pakistan’s final game on Monday against Ireland, the game against the Kiwis will be a must win.

It would be disappointing if this does happen as not only does England have a larger Pakistani community, it also has world class stadia which Ireland and Scotland cannot provide. Low capacities at open grounds would mean many fans missing out.

Pakistan hosting Australia in England is a very attractive proposition. I think both the ECB and PCB should dig a little deeper and make it happen as it would benefit both boards significantly.