LAHORE, Sept 8: Pakistan cricket’s ‘bad boy’, speedster Shoaib Akhtar on Saturday alleged that a conspiracy hatched against him had resulted in his unfortunate exit from the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa.

Addressing a crowded press conference at his residence after his expulsion from the national squad in Johannesburg over charges of assaulting teammate Mohammad Asif, Shoaib blamed senior all-rounder Shahid Afridi of provoking him and insulting his family, causing the sorry incident.

“We were exchanging jokes with each other in a nets session when Afridi suddenly began to abuse my family which compelled me to react,” said the maverick pacer.

“I lost my temper because I cannot tolerate such remarks against my family. In fact, it was Afridi whom I tried to hit when Asif accidently came in between and my bat struck his thigh. I really feel sorry about the whole thing because Asif is like my younger brother and I gave him lot of support during the doping test scandal,” he added.

Shoaib told newsmen that the incident would not have caused any consternation but Afridi chose to report it and it became a major row.

“To me, the matter had been resolved there and then but it was Afridi who informed the manager Talat Ali that I have injured Asif. In the first hearing, Asif told manager that it was nothing serious and we all went to our rooms. But the news was deliberately passed on to a private TV channel later on, adding fuel to the incident,” Shoaib went on to add.

Shoaib further disclosed that he was handed a five-match suspension for the brawl after a second hearing was held in Johannesburg. “I accepted that penalty because I had done a wrong thing,” said the demonic pacer who is nicknamed the ‘Rawalpindi Express’.

“If the news had not been given to the media, the matter would have been settled amicably. But it was a conspiracy to defame the team and the country and the board must take action against those who passed on the damaging bit of information to the media.”

For a future course of action from his side, Shoaib said he would be lodging an official complaint against Afridi with PCB and was ready to face any inquiry in this connection.

He insisted that he was eager to represent the country in the Twenty20 World Championship and had prepared well for the mega event. “I will be extremely disappointed if Pakistan fail to win this title.”

Contesting the calls of a life ban from some of the former players and the media, Shoaib said it was not an unusually ugly incident that would warrant such harsh penalty for him.

“Pakistani players have been involved in such quarrels and incidents in the past too but no one got a life ban for it,” said a visibly upset Shoaib.

“Inzamam and Younis Khan had a bad altercation some years ago, Afridi threw a bat at a spectator while Aamer Sohail was also involved in some fights. Recently French footballer Zinedine Zidane head-butted Italian player Marco Materazzi in the World Cup final while millions of people were watching. Was he banned for life for that? I am also a human being and have erred badly in this case for which I feel sorry.”

Shoaib also slammed former Test bowler Aaqib Javed for making a demand of life ban on him.

“Aaqib has no authority to speak in such matters. I have supported Aaqib’s case before the PCB chairman a lot, but I was wrong in supporting such a person,” he said.

Dismissing speculations about his fears of testing positive at the Twenty20 event or his association with the breakaway Indian Cricket League in the wake of the incident, Shoaib said: “This is total rubbish. I have refused the ICL offers totally. As for doping, all the players have been cleared in recent tests conducted by the PCB.”