PCB a divided house over appointment of new vice captain

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) seems to be a divided house over the issue of the appointment of new vice captain of the national team.

Islamabad, May 1 : The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) seems to be a divided house over the issue of the appointment of new vice captain of the national team.

Well-placed sources in PCB said that top PCB management a few selectors have clear differences over the issue.

"The PCB high ups want to make pacer Muhammad Asif deputy of newly-appointed skipper Shoaib Malik while chief selector Salahuddin Sallu is lobbying for Karachi based Shahid Afridi for the slot," The Nation quoted the sources as saying.

Sallu has not only put his weight in favour of Shahid Afridi, but has also started an open campaign for getting him appointed and also issued media statements to support stylish opener.

Insiders revealed that the Board's top officers were not happy with this attitude of the newly appointed chief selector and he may get an explanation call. They said that no selector or even chief selector had openly lobbied for any player in the past and it was a rare precedent that was set by Sallu by open and outright support of Shahid Afridi.

"The chairman PCB Dr. Nasim Ashraf wanted to handover the team to totally new leadership. Muhammad Asif stood tall among all the young candidates to win this contest after Shoaib Malik got appointed captain of the team. However, chief selector did not want him because he favours a Karachi based deputy," the sources elaborated.

They added: "The credentials of Shahid Afridi are not strong for the post because he has to fight hard for his own place in the team due to his inconsistency in the performance."

It was also learnt that ad-hoc committee of PCB which was likely to meet in Lahore on May 7 will approve Shoaib Malik's deputy and would address all the affairs in letter and spirit.

Meanwhile, cricket circles in Pakistan have also criticised the appointment of Shoaib Malik as skipper in the presence of various senior players like Muhammad Yousuf, Shoaib Akhtar, Younis Khan, Abdul Razzaq and Shahid Afridi. They said that if the Board wanted to have a youngster as captain of the team then they must provide him fresh players.

ANI