Afridi was warned and fined in Sri Lanka (2 Aug 1997)

02 August 1997

Afridi was warned and fined in Sri Lanka

By Our Sports Reporter

KARACHI, Aug 1: Shahid Khan Afridi was warned and fined by the Pakistan cricket team's tour disciplinary committee during last month's visit to Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup for breaching the Code of Conduct on two different occasions.

The 16-year-old sensation was first warned for missing a training session and then was later fined US $ 200 (Rs 8,274) for changing rooms. The disciplinary committee comprised Salim Malik (chairman), Saeed Anwar and Moin Khan (members). The tour disciplinary committee has submitted its report to the management which is expected to forward it to the PCB along with its own report. Three other cricketers viz Shahid Nazir, Kabir Khan and Arshad Khan were also fined US $ 50 (Pak Rs 2,068.50) for the same offence (changing room-mates).

Shahid Afridi is presently the centre of attraction on the off-the-field activities, including allegedly playing mischief with three girls on the Air Lanka flight from Colombo to Karachi last Monday morning. According to information gathered by this correspondent, the tour disciplinary committee took serious note of Afridi's decision to skip the training session before the match against Sri Lanka and that too without informing the team management. Afridi's room-mate (Shahid Nazir) told the captain and the managers on the ground that Afridi had a bad stomach. Nevertheless, considering his first major mistake, the tour disciplinary committee let him off with a stern warning. The cash penalty was, however, imposed when a couple of days later, Afridi changed his room-mate (Shahid Nazir) to share the room with Hasan Raza.

As far as the incident on the flight is concerned, sources say six cricketers viz Kabir Khan, Arshad Khan, Shahid Nazir, Mohammad Husain, Aqib Javed and Shahid Afridi, were seated in the back of the plane and close to each other. Afridi reportedly taunted the three girls seated ahead of them. The brother of those girls retaliated and challenged Afridi before the two were separated by Salim Malik and a couple of junior cricketers including Kabir Khan and Shahid Nazir. The Chief Executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Majid Khan, said from Lahore that reports have been sought from the managers. "They are the only competent authorities and we are waiting for their reports."

The cricket manager of the national team, Haroon Rasheed, stated that he didn't observe anything unusual during the flight and only came to know that something did happen during the arrival lounge at the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport. "It was a packed flight with tight security because former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was also in it. During the three-hours flight, refreshments and dinner were served and I don't think there was enough time left for the alleged mischief as being reported in the national dailies." Haroon's point was that if anything unfortunate had happened, the cabin crew would have reported the matter to him or Zaheer Abbas or the officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) sitting in the club class.

Haroon admitted that Shahid Afridi was fined in Sri Lanka for breach of Code of Conduct but termed it a routine one. "These small things do happen on the tour. Overall, the visit was a perfect one."

Source:: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)