Cricket: Pakistan deny rift in squad

By RICHARD BOOCK

The Pakistan cricketers were hanging on to credibility by a gossamer-thin thread yesterday after suggestions of a huge rift in the team's management and the possible resignation of coach Javed Miandad.

Even allowing for the 2-3 series defeat against New Zealand and the loss of controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, Pakistan's tour still took an unbelievable turn yesterday.

Star spinner Saqlain Mushtaq was almost sent home and reports emerged that Miandad was under pressure from his executive board.

Saqlain, rated the world's leading off-spinner alongside Mutiah Muralitharan, was by all accounts out of the tour on Thursday afternoon after being chosen, along with Azhar Mahmood and three others, to return home and miss the test series.

But hours later, manager Fakir Aizazuddin named both players in the test party, and said that only Imran Nazir and Shahid Afridi would accompany the injured Akhtar on the homeward journey.

Pakistan team officials refused to comment yesterday, but it is understood that Saqlain was told that he was being sent home, and that the decision was overturned at a team meeting later in the evening.

Saqlain has taken 241 one-day wickets, including nine four-wicket bags, but appears to have run foul of the team selectors after struggling to contain Craig McMillan in the fourth match at Christchurch.

The 25-year-old was asked to bowl the last over of the innings and ended up sending down two no-balls and conceding 24 runs.

In what seemed a mindless decision at the time, he was left out of the line-up for the fifth and deciding ODI at Carisbrook, which New Zealand won by six wickets.

It was one of a number of unfathomable decisions, including the call to summarily drop Afridi after he perished to a reckless shot in the second ODI at Napier, made by Pakistan during the series.

The about-turn on Saqlain also suggested a tug of war within team management, some of whom were apparently willing to dump a bowler who has snared 134 test wickets, including 11 five-wicket bags.

Sources close to the Pakistan side believe captain Moin Khan and senior players blocked the move.

A report in Pakistan's Nation newspaper said Miandad might now be forced to throw in the towel before the test series starts at Eden Park on Thursday.

Claiming to have information from a senior member of the Pakistan Cricket Board's selection committee, the newspaper reported that Miandad had decided to relinquish the coaching job "after being pressurised by key officials for the team's humiliating defeat at the hands of New Zealand."

Last night, Miandad said he was not going anywhere and denied any rift between himself and Moin.

"There's no problem. Of course we're working well. I've been with this team for almost a year now.

"Everything is fine, you will see. We're just looking forward to another test series.

"The main thing is we didn't perform [in the one-day series], but when you are 2-2 the fifth one can go either way.

"There are so many things said when you lose, but as you can see, I'm here."

Whatever happens on that score, the Pakistan selectors have apparently taken offence over remarks reportedly made by Moin and Miandad after Wednesday night's loss in Dunedin.

The News International said the pair complained that they had not had enough input into the selection of the one-day side for the New Zealand tour, something the home panel has strongly denied.

"Miandad was present when the team was finalised in Rawalpindi ... and he and Moin went through the list several times and discussed certain players," one source said.

"Actually, Moin misread the wicket [at Carisbrook] and included four fast bowlers instead of giving a chance to leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed - and it was his ill-planning that cost the match and series."