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LAHORE: While Pakistan coach Waqar Younis, in his report of the West Indies tour, has pointed out various shortcomings in the captaincy of all-rounder Shahid Afridi and held him responsible for losing the last two ODIs, team manager Intikhab Alam has partially endorsed his views by saying that the captain is a ‘highly hyperactive person’ who lacks the temperament to bear with or accommodate other people’s point of views.
Waqar observes in his report: “As a captain I feel he (Afridi) is still very immature, has poor discipline, lacks game plan and is unwilling to listen to others’ opinions or advice. Besides myself, the rest of the coaching staff has worked very hard with him to improve his abilities as a long-term and successful captain but sometimes his volatile and immature nature have proved detrimental and led to unfortunate outcomes including game losses.”
Pakistan won the five-match One-day International series in the Caribbean by 3-2 after leading 3-0 at one stage. The surprising defeats in the last two ODIs under Afridi’s captaincy raised lot of eyebrows in the crickting circles and put a question mark on his ability to sustain his act as a mature leader of men.
After the tour, Afridi was not retained as captain while Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq led the national side against minnows Ireland in two ODI match series which Pakistan won 2-0.
Waqar adds in his report: “During the 4th and the 5th ODI against the West Indies, he (Afridi) came into the meetings with a decisive mindset and was refusing to discuss playing XI options. I, as a part of the touring selection committee, tried to discuss different options for the team but he behaved very inappropriately and walked out of the meeting.”
“Manager Intikhab Alam always had to perform the duty of comforting him and sorting out the matter with him. I have to say, this is a very unprofessional attitude of a team’s captain and does not help the team flourish.
“His attitude and unwillingness to sort out matters led to a very uncomfortable dressing room environment which affected the players’ performance, resulting in the last two losses of the ODI series,” writes the coach.
On the other hand, manager Intikhab, a former Test skipper, writes in his report: “As a matter of fact Shahid Afridi is a highly hyper-active personality who lacks temperament to listen to other people’s point of views or look for solutions for the betterment of the team. Unfortunately, Waqar and Afrdi do not get along well with each other.”
He continues: “Waqar’s point of view is that on certain issues Afridi does not consult him, especially when to take batting power-play or change in the batting order which affects the result of the match.
“According to Afridi, Waqar interferes in his thinking, day to day routine and his captaincy and he does not feel comfortable with that. There is also one very serious issue that Waqar feels that whatever is discussed during the team meetings, Afridi has a habit to inform the media which affects the entire team.”
Commenting on the successive defeats in the 4th and 5th ODIs in the West Indies, Intikhab says: “After winning the first three ODI matches, an incident took place during the (tour) selection committee meeting. Coach Waqar Younis mentioned that ‘since we have won the ODI series we should encourage giving chance to younger players.’ Afridi also wanted to do the same but there was some serious disagreement on certain players, which resulted in heated arguments.
“I tried my best to defuse the situation and talk to them but after some discussion, Afridi got up and left the room.”
“After we concluded the meeting, I called Afridi into my room and asked why did he leave the room? Straight away, he apologised and said ‘I should not have done it, it just happened.’ After discussing with him the team composition, he agreed on the playing XI. Unfortunately we lost that match.
“At one stage we were 200 for two in forty overs. All of a sudden Afridi promoted himself and as soon as he went in, the very next over he took the power-play and got himself out. The entire batting order was reshuffled and as a result, we could only manage 40 odd runs after that.
“After losing the match Waqar was furious why he was not consulted over change in order,” narrates Intikhab.
He further states: “On the eve of the last and final ODI at Guyana, the same thing happened during the selection meeting. Whereas Waqar told Afridi that the match was lost at Barbados because he did not consult him over the change in batting order. Afridi in return told Waqar, ‘I am not having a good time as far as my batting is concerned, but how many times you have taken me to the nets and worked with me or talked to me about my batting.’
“After heated arguments once again Afridi left the room. Again I called him into my room and asked him then why did he behave in such a manner. Once again he repeated the same old story.”
Intikhab further explains: “After some time Afridi went to Aaqib Javed’s (assistant coach) room and spoke with him, seeking his advice. Aaqib also told him that ‘in future you should talk to Waqar alone before the meeting and if you have any reservations regarding any player, try to solve the problem before the meeting.’
“Just before Afridi left for Pakistan I told him that he should not speak to the press and if he had any serious issues or observations regarding Waqar or anybody else, he should directly talk to the chairman.
“I have also been observing Waqar and feel that he is at times little harsh and arrogant which creates some problems.”
