Miandad demands an explanation

Javed Miandad has demanded that Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, make public the "other reasons" that were supposedly behind his removal as coach of the national team. An enraged Miandad said, "This kind of statement from a veteran diplomat and a senior administrator has created doubts in the minds of cricket followers, my fans and badly tarnished my image." Miandad went on to say that he was contemplating legal action.

Shaharyar informed the media the other day that Miandad's sacking was not solely due to the fact that he presided over the Test and one-day series losses to India. And in response, Miandad was quoted in Dawn as saying: "The PCB chairman should make those 'other reasons' public for my ouster as coach of the Pakistan team.

"The statement also creates an impression in the minds of followers of the game that I could have been involved in betting and match-fixing," he added. Miandad claimed that Shaharyar's pronouncement had come as a total surprise to him, since he had earlier asked him to become a team advisor and also run some of the academies.

He claimed that he found it surprising that the PCB boss had asked him to become an adviser of the team as well as run the academies after his sacking as coach.

But even in the middle of his tirade, Miandad didn't take his eyes off his real target: Bob Woolmer, who replaced him as Pakistan coach. Despite the fact that India meted out two humiliating innings defeats in the Test series last April when he was coach, Miandad declared that the team had done much better under his stewardship, saying that the showing under Woolmer was "zero".