Published: Mar 27, 2015, 01:51 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 27, 2015, 01:51 PM (IST)
With Pakistan cricket, it is nothing new to read reports of disciplinary actions taken by coach, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after any tour or tournament where the national team hasn’t been able to perform to the expectations from them.
According to a report on PTI, it is believed that Pakistan coach Waqar Younis had submitted a strongly-worded report to PCB after a disappointing ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 campaign. In the letter he has complained about the behaviour of Pakistani players Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez.
All-rounder Hafeez had to return home after suffering a calf injury during Pakistan’s New Zealand tour prior to the World Cup while Shehzad and Akmal played in all the games in the tournament. On returning home, Hazfeez claimed that his injury was not serious and he could have recovered after missing the first two games of the World Cup.
He added that he was surprised at the decision of the team management to send him back without taking him into confidence. There were speculations that Hafeez had had an argument with Waqar during a training session.
It is also reported that Waqar suggested that specialist Test batsman Azhar Ali to be appointed as the new captain of the one-day side after the retirement of Misbah-ul-Haq. There was neither an official confirmation nor denial from PCB on the report.
After the quarter-final loss, Waqar flew directly to Sydney to spend a few days with his family. The report claims that the former Pakistani bowler advised the PCB to talk to Shehzad, Akaml and Hafeez about their behaviour and ask them to straighten things out.
The report added that Waqar recommended that Akmal be sent back home to play domestic cricket and not be picked for the national side until he improves his approach to batting. He had also suggested that in order to improve the quality of players in the national side, the board should restrict the top domestic tournaments to just 10 teams.
The surprise recommendation was that making Azhar the ODI captain; Waqar has never wanted to pick Azhar for limited overs cricket as he was also ignored for the World Cup even when Hafeez was injured and returned home. Azhar, who last played a one-day international in India in early 2013, is a regular Test player having appeared in 39 matches.
It is also reported that former captain Misbah-ul-Haq too recommended Azhar’s name to the PCB for captaincy during his meeting with Chairman Shahryar Khan.
