Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi will meet Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt on his return from the West Indies to discuss the problems he is facing while working with national team’s head coach Waqar Younis. The differences between the two have spilled out into the open and reports say their working relationship on the West Indies tour at one stage got so bad that Afridi even refused to play the last two matches. Afridi had initially asked the PCB to not consider him for the West Indies tour because of personal reasons but later changed his mind. Sources say Afridi will meet Butt after he returns home to outline his concerns about working with Waqar. Butt, when contacted, said that he had also read about the problems in the West Indies in the media. “When Afridi returns I will talk to him to find out if this is all true,” he said. Reports say the major point of contention between Afridi and Waqar is the latter’s growing authority in selection matters.“Afridi on the West Indies wanted to give the new players ample chances in the series and insisted they were not on tour for a joyride but Waqar kept on resisting and playing the tried and tested players. Waqar’s insistence on resting Asad Shafiq in the fifth match after he had scored runs in the earlier games also didn’t please Afridi at all,” one source said. “Afridi wanted to try out new pacer, Sadaf Hussain. Even during the World Cup he was not happy that Junaid Khan didn’t get to play a single match in the tournament.”
This might very well be the beginning of the end for Afridi's captaincy career…so much for all the Facebook groups advocating Afridi being retained as Pakistan's captain till World Cup 2015. I have doubts he might be leading the team in 2012.
Comments are closed.