Re: 4th ODI Pak- Ind Feb 16 - Multan D/N (Afridi out) – All merged
PCB chief backs decision to give Shoaib rest
From our correspondent
LAHORE: Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Shaharyar Khan said on Monday that the Pakistan team management had taken the correct decision in allowing fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar to take rest to recover from his ankle injury which if not treated properly threatened his selection for the tours of Sri Lanka and England.
“Shoaib does have a problem with his ankle and it needs to be treated and rested properly so that he is available for the coming tours. I know he was keen to play in the ODI series against India but was advised to take rest,” he told this correspondent.
"Doctors have advised him four to six weeks rest for his injury to heal completely,’ Shaharyar stated. Shoaib was on Sunday night released from the Pakistan squad and has been replaced by pacer Mohammad Sami for the last two one-dayers in Multan and Karachi.
“He has been released so that he can go and take rest. We are satisfied with the treatment he is getting right now,” Shaharyar said. Sami was to join the squad on Monday night after playing for his department, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in a Patron’s Cup match in Pindi.
Because of the circumstances leading to the exit of Shoaib from the team, all sorts of conspiracy theories are abounding on whether a new problem has cropped up between him and the team management, particularly coach Bob Woolmer.
And the team management has itself to blame for creating such circumstances. For one on Sunday when Shoaib bowled in the nets apparently as a fitness test after which he was declared unfit for the last two games, neither Woolmer nor the support team could be seen around raising the question who supervised Shoaib’s fitness test. Secondly, there is confirmed word that Woolmer is not happy with Shoaib’s reluctance to reduce his run-up in ODIs.
Thirdly, according to the source on February 9, Shoaib himself gave an interview to an Indian channel to which he is contracted for the series, saying he would be playing the second match in Rawalpindi on the 11th after missing the first match for which he was rested.
The same day Inzamam himself a day earlier had told reporters Shoaib would play in Pindi. But next morning Inzamam announced at a press conference he was not playing on the advice of the physiotherapist because of his ankle problem. Interestingly, when the channel then contacted Shoaib to inform him what Inzamam had said and that he would’ve to record new sound bites before the match, the fast bowler was apparently surprised to learn about the announcement.
While in reality there might be nothing wrong between Shoaib and the team management as he left the stadium with Inzamam and Mushtaq Ahmed but clearly the management needs to learn the basics about public relations and media handling.
The News
