Pakistan's Inzamam blamed for World Cup flop by AFP

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Player:

Inzamam-ul-Haq

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DateLine: 17th May 2007

 

An inquiry into Pakistan's shock first-round exit from the cricket World Cup has blamed the arrogant attitude of captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, accusing him of acting like a dictator.

 

The three-member committee, which revealed its findings here on Thursday, added that lack of planning and poor discipline were also behind Pakistan's dismal performance in the Caribbean.

 

"Inzamam's attitude was haughty and that of a dictator and more than one incident proved that," Ijaz Butt, head of the committee, said after a month-long inquiry that took statements from players, former players and officials.

 

"Inzamam should have been removed from the captaincy. As a player he was world-class but his attitude was haughty during and before the tournament."

 

Pakistan lost their opening match to the West Indies by 54 runs and then crashed out of the event with a humiliating three-wicket defeat at the hands of debutantes Ireland.

 

A day after their exit, coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in the team hotel in Jamaica. His death is being investigated as a murder by Jamaican police, although recent reports suggested he may have died of natural causes.

 

Butt, a former Test player, said Inzamam had rejected the policy of a selector being involved in the team's line-up on tours.

 

"When the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) sent a selector with the team on tour to South Africa in January-February this year, Inzamam did not involve the selector in team selection," he said.

 

Inzamam quit as captain after the World Cup and announced his retirement from one-day games, but said he would continue to play Test cricket as an ordinary member of the team.

 

He was replaced by Shoaib Malik, who led the team off to Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for a three-match one-day international series against Sri Lanka.

 

The inquiry's findings were almost a carbon copy of a report into Pakistan's first-round exit in the 2003 World Cup, which blamed captain Waqar Younis' attitude.

 

The committee on Thursday also blamed poor management for the team's disastrous show in this year's event.

 

"We sent 12 players with (all-rounder) Shahid Afridi unable to play the first two games due to a ban. There was no planning for an important event like the World Cup and blame should also be shared by the cricket management," Butt said.

 

"No one bothered to do the homework before the World Cup by sending someone to the Caribbean to get the knowhow of the pitches and conditions. The injuries to the players were not treated seriously."

 

The committee highlighted the poor handling of a doping case involving the fast bowling pair of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif. Akhtar and Asif tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone in October last year.

 

A PCB doping tribunal initially banned Akhtar for two years and Asif for one year before an appeal committee overturned the ban on the plea that both took the banned substances unknowingly.

 

The pair, originally named in the 15-man squad, were finally pulled out of the World Cup on fitness grounds at the last minute.

 

The committee on Thursday also ruled out allegations that the games could have been deliberately lost during the World Cup.

 

"There was no evidence of match-fixing against the team or any targeted match-fixing, and we invited former PCB chief Shaharyar Khan to corroborate what he said in the press about targeted fixing, but he didn't come," said Butt.

 

Khan suggested that "targeted" fixing -- when players fix small elements of the game, such as the numbers of wides -- happened regularly.

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)