LAHORE – Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has expressed surprise over the decision of the Pakistan Cricket Board to withhold the name of the captain while announcing the 15-member squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup to be held from February 19.
“It is a strange practice to me and it only means that it gives many players an idea that they are contenders for the captaincy and that could spoil the spirit in the dressing room,” Akram said while talking to reporters at a cricket writers’ function. “The captain should have been announced first and the squad should have been picked with his input as well,” he said.
The former fast bowling great said that the board should not waste time in announcing the World Cup captain. “If the board is waiting to see how Afridi performs as captain in the one-day series in New Zealand I don’t think that it is a wise move because this is not the time to change the captain. For the World Cup they must persist with Afridi,” said Akram. Pakistan will play the six-match one-day series against New Zealand from January 22 to February 5. Akram also refused to agree that even if the three players — Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif –were cleared of the spot-fixing charges on February 5, they would be in the proper state of mind to play the World Cup. “Even if any of these players are cleared I don’t think it would be a good idea to include them into the World Cup squad because they were suspended in September and since then they have been going through a lot of mental pressure and stress. “I think it would be better to give them sometime to settle down and then include them into the national team,” said the former pacer.
