Pakistan Captain Shahid Afridi says controversies are things of the past
Pakistan Captain Shahid Afridi has insisted that controversies surrounding Pakistan cricket are a thing of the past. Afridi’s comments come ahead of Pakistan’s first match of the ICC World Cup 2011 against minnows Kenya. The tournament is being hosted by
India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Talking on the matter of controversies in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Afridi said, “It was difficult in the beginning when we had all those issues. We had to rebuild and we had to lift the team again, but now a situation has come that our team is now
settled and we have a good combination that people now have hopes that this team can do something.”
Afridi gave full respect to the Kenyans and reiterated that his side would not be taking any team lightly. He said minnows can cause upsets in such a mega event. He was probably referring to Pakistan’s humiliating defeat at the hands of Ireland in the previous
World Cup four years ago after which the team’s coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room. The cause of death was deemed to be a heart attack. Perhaps a first-round exit of his team was just too much to handle for him.
The ball-eating incident was another controversy in Pakistan cricket, involving the skipper himself. The flamboyant player was slapped with a two-match ban for trying to tamper with the ball using his teeth.
But the mother of all controversies was the spot-fixing debacle which saw three leading Pakistani players getting themselves in trouble with anti-corruption authorities last year. The trio included left-handed batsman Salman Butt, pacer Mohammad Aamer and
swing sensation Mohammad Asif. The three were given a tried by an International Cricket Council’s (ICC) anti-corruption tribunal in January 2011, but there was just too much evidence against them and thus, they were slapped with bans from all formats of cricket.
Butt has been served a 10-year ban, Asif a seven-year ban and Amir a five-year ban. The banning of the two best bowlers in the team literally annihilated Pakistan’s bowling superiority and the PCB was left with no option but to rely on veteran Shoaib Akhtar
to lead the bowling battery along with Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz.
As if this wasn’t enough Pakistan was yet again struck by another awkward scenario when lanky wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider, who was given a chance to keep the stumps in the absence of regular wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, fled the team. Akmal was suspended
by the PCB for playing for the national team without disclosing all his financial assets.
Haider fled the team saying illegal bookmakers were threatening to kill him because he did not accept their demands of throwing the fourth and fifth One Day International (ODI) matches against South Africa in the UAE. Haider later resurfaced in London and
is seeking asylum by the British government.
With so much happening in Pakistani cricket, it is still a miracle they still have a team being labelled the Dark Horses. This shows that the world is aware that even with so many tragedies, Pakistan are still an unpredictable group of players capable of
dazzling anyone on their day.
Skipper Afridi also wants the world not to write-off his side and has warned that they are still a force to watch out for. “Pakistan will be a dangerous side in this World Cup. I take this World Cup campaign as a challenge. No one is considering us to make
the semi-finals. It’s a big challenge for us and I want to see my team making the semi-finals,” he said.
With the World Cup well underway, it is high time the Pakistani team lives up to the skipper’s claims and stays away from attracting news for all the bad reasons.