March 14, 2003	Friday	Muharram 10, 1424

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KARACHI, March 13: All-rounder Shahid Afridi will not be considered for next month’s Sharjah Cup by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for bringing the game into disrepute.

According to PCB, Shahid has been found guilty of sledging Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar as well as respected English umpire David Shepherd during the high profile World Cup Group ‘A’ encounter between Pakistan and India at Centurion (South Africa) on March 1.

“We received an official complaint from the International Cricket Council (ICC) supported with evidence,” a PCB spokesman said on Thursday after a two-day meeting of the board with Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, the PCB chairman, presiding over at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

Shahid has also been fined 50 per cent of his Indian match fee by PCB.

“The players were told prior to their departure for South Africa that no indiscipline will be tolerated,” the spokesman said. “Unfortunately, Shahid Afridi breached the players Code of Conduct and had to be penalised.”

However, Shahid has been allowed to represent his department, Habib Bank, in the ongoing NBP One-day Patron’s Cup.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s squad for the April 1-10 Sharjah Cup is expected to be announced on March 24.

The national selectors will pick the 15-man team after assessing form and fitness of the players in the Patron’s Cup.

To a query regarding senior players’ future, the PCB spokesman that no decision was forthcoming until the selectors had watched them in the Patron’s Cup one-day tournament.

Furthermore, the PCB has not yet decided who will lead the side. But it is almost certain now that fast bowler Waqar Younis, who led Pakistan in the World Cup, is unlikely to be retained either as player or captain.

The PCB chief indicated on Thursday that “let the selectors first submit a squad of 15 and after that only the captain will be picked”.

The General further remarked, “We don’t want to jump the gun as we still have time on our hands before the Sharjah Cup. We are in a stage where a lot of thinking has to be put behind our decisions before they are made or announced.”

Another task that lays before the PCB is naming of the team management. A new coach to replace Richard Pybus, who was contracted until the World Cup, will be named in the next few days.

On Wednesday, the PCB chief discussed at length the lethargic performance of the Pakistan squad in the World Cup with the officials, who accompanied the side to southern Africa. The team officials submitted their reports to the chairman.

Later in the evening Waqar also met the general, quashing rumours that he was kept waiting in the corridors of the Gaddafi Stadium.

Our Sports Correspondent adds from Lahore: The PCB may also take action against three other World Cup players — Wasim Akram, Yousuf Youhana and Younis Khan — for giving interviews to  different TV channels and newspapers during the tournament without PCB’s permission, according to reliable sources.