Pakistan: Councillor cites reasons for change in captaincy (5 January 1999)

5 January 1999

Pakistan: Councillor cites reasons for change in captaincy

By Our Sports Reporter

KARACHI, Jan 4: A senior-most Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) executive council member on Monday said there were several reasons behind the change in the cricket team captaincy.

Nusrat Azeem, president of the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA), said there were internal problems in the team besides issues like injuries to the players, bad weather, role of the pitches etc that combined to restrict the Pakistan cricket team to give their best in the home series.

"The executive council evaluated every angle before deciding that in the present circumstances, Aamir Sohail should be replaced by Wasim Akram," Azeem said.

Azeem dispelled impression that Sohail had been appointed captain till the World Cup. "He was appointed for an indefinite period. The term had been used to give confidence to the skipper so that he can plan things accordingly.

"But if someone starts thinking that he was not given a free-hand, then its his problem," Azeem, referring to Sohail, said.

Azeem felt that it was not necessary that every demand of the skipper is accepted. "Only those suggestions are accommodated which the concerned officials think are in the best interest of the team and country. It was a wrong thinking of the skipper that all his demands should be accepted."

Azeem said the executive council had kept the door open for it while appointing Sohail as captain for an indefinite period. "If the PCB chairman has been saying that Sohail is the captain till the World Cup, the objective of it was to give confidence to the skipper. But the executive council had kept its option open which it used in this meeting.

"If we had to replace Sohail, we could have done it in the Dec 8 meeting. But we wanted to give confidence and free-hand to him. Unfortunately, he didn't turn up for the second Test because of illness and has so far not attended the camp," he stated.

Azeem said the executive council didn't take Sohail into confidence while replacing him "because he (Aamir Sohail) himself was not keen to continue. His recent statements said all."

Azeem admitted that Sohail had been violating the PCB code of conduct. "In my view, he has breached the code of conduct. But it is the PCB disciplinary committee which should take up the issue.

"We could have discussed this subject on Sunday but because of the shortage of time, several items on the agenda had to be deferred. Discussion on breach of code of conduct by Sohail was also one of the issues that was deferred. I think we can take up the matter in the next meeting," he stated.

Source :: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)