AFP: PCB orders probe into players revolt (19 Oct 95)

Title: Board Orders Revolt Probe Author: AFP Source: Herald-Sun (October 19, 1995)

The Pakistan Cricket Board has ordered a high-level probe into its team`s unceremonious exit from the Champions Trophy in Sharjah, amid reports of a player revolt against skipper Rameez Raja.

Board chairman Zulfiqar Ali Shah Bokhari said yesterday he would be joined by the board`s chief executive Arif Abbasi and treasurer Salman Taseer in the three-member comittee meeting in Lahore on Saturday.

The meeting, which precedes the selection of the Pakistan squad for the upcoming tour of Australia the same day, will also discuss defeats in the recent home series against Sri Lanka.

Pakistan lost both the Test and one-day series to Sri Lanka before crashing out of the Champions Trophy against the West Indies and the Sri Lankans.

"We want to know why the team is not performing well," said Bokhari, a diplomat who was nominated as board chief by the Pakistan Government earlier this year.

The committee will also probe reports that star player Aamir Sohail refused to play two crucial league matches in the Champions Trophy after a tiff with skipper Raja over his decision to bat first against the West Indies last Friday.

Sohail, who starred in Pakistan`s victories in the first two matches of the double-leg preliminary league, opted out of the return matches with a sore shoulder. Pakistan lost both matches.

"I wanted Aamir to play, but if an individual says he has an injury we have to trust and believe him," said Raja.

The committee will discuss Raja`s credentials to lead the team to Australia and the World Cup, just four months away. Pakistan is the defending champion.

Also in the firing line are two former captains. Mushtaq Mohammad and Majid Khan, who are coach and manager respectively.

The latest crisis adds to a growing list of troubles in Pakistan cricket in the post-Imran Khan era. These include alleagations of bribery, player revolts and injuries.

Former captain Salim Malik, accused by three Australian cricketers of offering bribes to throw away a Test match last year, has not been considered for selection since.

Basit Ali and Rashid Latif recently completed a six-month ban for walking out of the tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe earlier this year in protest of Malik`s leadership.

Leading all-rounder Wasim Akram withdrew from two Tests and three onedayers against Sri Lanka with shoulder trouble, and declared himself unavailable for the Champions Trophy despite being included in the 14- man squad.

PCB chief Bokhari said he would seek fitness reports from Akram abd two others, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Saeed Anwar, before the team for Australia is selected.