Pakistan team stopped from speaking to the press

The Pakistan team management has placed a complete ban on players from speaking to the press. This drastic step comes in the wake of the recent spat between Inzamam-ul-Haq, the captain, and Shoaib Akhtar over press reports.

Haroon Rashid, the manager, was quoted in The News as saying, "The players have been told that from now on they will not speak to the media without the permission of the captain, coach and manager. Anyone violating this code of conduct will have to be docked a percentage of his earnings."

Haroon also played down the misunderstanding between Inzamam and Shoaib, adding: "It was nothing serious and later on myself and Bob Woolmer had a long chat with the two and everything was sorted out. The impression given is that there are problems in the team. There is nothing of this sort. There is total harmony and everyone is geared up for the Asia Cup."

But following that incident, a policy was outlined for media relations, and it was agreed that only the captain, coach or manager should be allowed to speak to the press. Haroon confirmed: "The policy should be followed more strictly to avoid such misunderstandings in future."