Afridi no longer a captaincy material: Butt

Karachi: The chairman of the PCB, Ijaz Butt has made it clear that former Pakistan One-day skipper Shahid Afridi is no longer a captaincy material for the PCB. “As far as I am concerned, Afridi is no longer a captaincy material for the PCB,” Butt told the ‘Geo Super’ channel in an interview last night. “In my opinion, which may be considered by some people as wrong, he (Afridi) was responsible for us losing the last two One-day Internationals in the West Indies,” he added. [caption id=“attachment_38398” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“PCB chairman Ijaz Butt said as far as the board was concerned, Shahid Afridi (above) was no longer a contracted player and “once the West Indies tour ended as per our policy he was no longer the captain”. Getty Images”]  [/caption] The much publicised conflict between Afridi and the Board started when the PCB chairman removed the flamboyant allrounder as captain of the national One-day team for the series against Ireland in May, although he was retained in the side as a player. The decision to remove Afridi was taken on the basis of a report from team manager Intikhab Alam, who blamed him for spoiling the team spirit by walking out of team meetings before the last two ODIs against the West Indies. Afridi then announced his retirement in protest and lashed out at the board, resulting in the PCB initiating disciplinary action against him that included suspension of his central contract and revoking NOC issued to him to play in England. Thereafter, Afridi went to the court to restrain the board from taking action against him. But after the dispute generated political interference,  the allrounder finally withdrew his case and appeared before the disciplinary committee of the board, which fined him 4.5 million rupees for breaching the code of conduct, but also recommended the board to issue him the NOC to go and play for Hampshire in England. Before leaving for England, Afridi said his career was still not over and in due course of time he could make a comeback to the national team. Speaking at length on the conflict, Butt said as far as the PCB was concerned, Afridi was no longer a contracted player and “once the West Indies tour ended as per our policy he was no longer the captain”. “Look as far as we are concerned he has retired from cricket although he didn’t inform us about his retirement decision as per the code of conduct. He is no more on our contract list so I find it surprising to hear him say he will make a comeback for Pakistan,” the former Test player said. Butt also admitted there was great political interference during the conflict between Afridi and the Board. “It was disappointing the issue was politicised. I point blank refused to everyone to pardon him. I told them I will not budge unless he (Afridi) follows the disciplinary process and I only met him when he agreed to appear before the disciplinary committee,” Butt said. The PCB chairman also said the Governor of Sindh had spoken to him for one hour on the issue and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif had also called him up. PTI