Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has denied unconfirmed reports that some six players of the South Africa-bound squad have threatened not to play in the Twenty20 World Cup if the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) did not take action against one of its senior officials.
KARACHI: Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has denied unconfirmed reports that some six players of the South Africa-bound squad have threatened not to play in the Twenty20 World Cup if the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) did not take action against one of its senior officials.
Some television channels reported that Malik had been involved in a row with Zakir Khan, the Director of Cricket Operations, over the manner in which fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar had left the training camp without informing team manager Talat Ali.
Reports said that Zakir had questioned why Malik had allowed Akhtar to leave the camp without informing the manager after the fast bowler said in his appeal he had informed the captain before leaving the camp.
The board had fined Akhtar 300,000 rupees and docked points from his central contract for leaving the camp without permission. The pacer has appealed against the fine.
Reports said after the row, some six players told the board yesterday they would not play in the Twenty20 World Cup if no action was taken against Zakir, a former Test player.
"No I don't know from where these sort of stories have come out. I am not the sort of person to indulge in such things," Malik said from his hometown Sialkot.
"No player, including myself, has made any threat to the board and I have not met Zakir since last week either. So I don't know how we could have a row."
Interestingly, reports about the feud came one week after sources within the team had indicated that some players were not happy with Zakir's overbearing attitude with them and were planning to lodge a complaint with the board.
"Maybe the board may have advised Malik to diffuse this issue once it was on the channels and promised some action against Zakir," one source said.
Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi also insisted that everything was well and no row had taken place.
"I would have known about it. There is no issue of players threatening to not play in the tournament because of Zakir. The team is united and we are all looking forward to doing well in the World Cup," said Afridi.
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