LAHORE –Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Shaharyar Khan has said that PCB has not put any pressure on Pakistan T20 Captain Shahid Afridi to retire.
“Afridi himself made it to the public that he would retire after the World Cup and PCB did not force him on the issue of retirement,” the chairman said in a news conference on Monday.
Shaharyar termed Afridi an iconic match ‘winning player’ who was admired for his good performance and drew criticism on his bad performance. He said that victory and defeat were part of the game but it was a huge disappointment to suffer defeat from India in the world cup.
“Everyone (team member) was responsible for the loss and it is not fair to single out a particular player,” he said. Responding to a question whether the team was not united and players were having differences, he said “It is mere a propaganda; all the players are united and their spirit and morale is high.” “I don’t want to criticise the team or any player at a stage when they are playing in an important event like World Cup. It’s time that we all should support them helping them to lift the level of their performance,” said the PCB chairman.
He termed the coming two matches of Pakistan team in the T20 Cup very important in order to determine team’s chances for making it to the semi finals. “I hope that the team will put up a decent show to strike victory against New Zealand and Australia to brighten its chances for the semi finals,” he maintained.
The PCB chairman said that Pakistan team received tremendous support from the nation and the crowd during its matches against Bangladesh and India. To a question about the coach, he said that no name had yet been finalised as head coach of the Pakistan team.
“There are few names which are under consideration including some foreign players, we have not yet reached any conclusion, the contract of the present coach Waqar Younis with the team is till June. We may continue with him or we may find a suitable replacement.”
The PCB chief said that the team needed to improve in order to blend into a winning combination and with the induction of young players its performance was improving and its performance graph would go up in due course of time.
He said that the former captains Imran Khan and Wasim Akram gave useful tips to the Pakistan team based on their expertise and standing in the game and the prime objective of such advisery sessions was to boost the performance of the team.
The PCB chairman called for reviving bilateral series between Pakistan and India. He said, “Indian government’s refusal is the main hurdle in the resumption of the event.” He praised the performance of the Pakistan Women Cricket Team and termed it a high standard international team which beat India to achieve distinction and appreciation.
“Beating India has established our women team as an outstanding international side which has a lot of talented players,” he said. Regarding return of international cricket to Pakistan, he said that the International Cricket Council (ICC) was reviewing security situation in Pakistan and the report being prepared in this regard widely favoured Pakistan for hosting international cricket in due course of time.
