Afridi no longer obvious choice in ODI, T20 captaincy?

[PB]

Tuesday, July 20, 2010
From Abdul Mohi Shah

LEEDS: Shahid Afridi’s unexpected antics have compelled Pakistan cricket officials to re-think about the all-rounder’s future as captain for even the limited-overs version of the game.

Afridi retired from Tests after Pakistan lost to Australia by 150 runs in the first Test at Lord’s. Though all the team officials — including manager Yawar Saeed, coach Waqar Younis and even PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt — said that Afridi had done his job remarkably well, his decision to retire has not been welcomed.

Even a PCB official, who talked to ‘The News’ from Lahore on Monday, thinks Afridi should have behaved in a more mature manner.

“If he wanted to quit as the Test captain, there were better ways of doing that,” he said. Afridi’s misadventure has compelled the PCB think-tank to look for other options for the limited-overs team.

Afridi has been announced as the one-day captain and is expected to take over the responsibility when Pakistan’s ODI series begins against England after the Tests. But things could change depending on the results of the Test series from here on.

An encouraging performance from the team in the remaining five Tests (one against Australia and four against England) could see more changes.

When a PCB official, who is present here, was approached in Leeds on Monday, he said that Afridi has already been named captain. “What happens in between we don’t know about that. Currently, we are focussing on the Test series.

“It is too early to say anything about the ODIs,” he said. Meanwhile, there are rumours that even former captain Shoaib Malik could return to lead the team in the one-dayers — if not immediately then sometime later this year.

“It all depends on the success in the remaining Tests. A good performance could see newly appointed captain Salman Butt dictating terms. A successful captain holds the power in Pakistan cricket.

“Butt, who is a favourite amongst PCB officials for being educated and well behaved, could well take over as Pakistan’s future captain in all forms of cricket if his team performs well in England,” a source within the team said.

It is also believed that Butt puts Malik in high esteem and he might forward the all-rounder’s name for captaincy in limited-overs cricket.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=251743

[sakss]

new bloody drama....thnx PCB

[Down2Earth]

Originally Posted by sakss new bloody drama....thnx PCB

you should thank captain marvelous, he shouldn't have behaved like a child

[saeed-sohail]

Serves him right.

[Afridirocks]

yaar hes gonna stay as captain, relax karo

they are all assuming things, he will retain as captain i am sure

[saeed-sohail]

Zardari won't sack butt.Test tour is destined to be a disaster malik will take over after this summer.

[Energy]

What if we loose the first ODI to England and then Afridi retires from ODI's and says he wants to be the captain for T20's? You never know with Lala.
Difficult time this for PCB and the next few weeks are bound to be full of drama.