ICC not pleased with Afridi's conduct in Kanpur

GWALIOR, India: Shahid Afridi may have apologised to Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir for his outburst during the third one-dayer in Kanpur but the Pakistani all-rounder is now under a scan and could face penalties if he doesn’t toe the line in the remaining games of the series.

According to well-placed sources, International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Roshan Mahanama is not very pleased with the conduct of Afridi in the Kanpur One-day International (ODI) and could take strict action against the cricketer whom India media is now describing as the new bad boy of Pakistan cricket if he crosses the line again during the ongoing series against India.

Afridi needled Gambhir soon after the Indian batsman came to the crease leading to a war of words between the two right in the middle and fully captured by the cameras. It didn’t stop there as Afridi came in Gambhir’s way after delivering the next ball and tempers started to flare again and finally the umpires had to intervene.

Later Pakistan captain said that he went up to Gambhir and apologised for the incident. Afridi revealed after the match that he has also said sorry to the Indian cricketer saying that he shouldn’t have lost his cool.

Gambhir may have accepted the apology but the Indian media is not willing to let it go. Newspaper and television reports here are branding Afridi as the newest bad boy of Pakistan cricket, having edged his teammate Shoaib Akhtar for that unwanted tag.

A report here pointed out that

“Afridi was banned for a Test and two one-dayers for deliberately damaging the pitch during the second Test against England, caught the ire of the match referee for this on-pitch altercation with Rahul Dravid. And now his latest face-off with Gambhir has only furthered his new reputation.”

It added that ‘Pakistan cricket’s original bad boy Shoaib Akhtar’ has also given his thumbs down to such behaviour and is urging his teammates to be more mannered.

“I think these things happen on the field, its gone too far. Mannerisms need to be maintained,”

he was quoted as saying.

Shoaib, who recently served an international ban for hitting his teammate Mohammad Asif with a cricket bat, has been trying to shed his bad boy image in recent days by visiting orphanage in Chandigarh and a centre for special children in Lucknow.

Shoaib Malik blames poor fielding for ODI loss

KANPUR, India: Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik on Sunday blamed an ordinary display by his bowlers and fielders for a crushing 46-run defeat against India in the third one-dayer here on Sunday but vowed his team would bounce back in the next game.

“We gave away 40-45 more runs than we should have and in the end that made all the difference,”

Malik told reporters after Pakistan faltered chasing 294 in a bid to go one up in the five-match One-day International (ODI) series. Malik said that Pakistan could have come out of the match with a different result had his players fielded well and taken the matches that came their way.

“We didn’t field well today and the bowlers could have done better too. I believe with a tight display in the field we could have restricted India to around 250 which was quite gettable on this wicket,”

he added.

He pointed out that Pakistan paid the price for dropping Yuvraj Singh who made a match-winning 77. Yuvraj who was dropped by Salman Butt early in his innings put up a 100-run stand with his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

However, Shoaib defended wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal for dropping Sourav Ganguly off Shoaib Akhtar on the first ball of the day saying that ‘catches are dropped by everybody’.

“Kamran is a good player, its just that he is going through a bad patch,”

said Malik, who compared Kamran with Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist.

However, when pressed, Malik did concede that Pakistan are persisting with Kamran because they have no other choice.

“Kamran is the best we have,”

he said adding Pakistan have opted against giving anybody else this role because of the high-pressure nature of the series.

“Kamran is very experienced now and we can’t afford to put in a new man out there and bring him under pressure,”

he stressed. But a minute later he contradicted himself again saying that Pakistan are looking for other options as well.

“We have to win the final two games and have some good players like Yasir Hameed on the bench. He has the experience of keeping wickets,”

he added. Yasir is a part of the 15-man ODI squad but has yet to play a role in the series.

Malik defended his decision to field after winning the toss on a wicket that crumbled a bit and assisted the spinners in the second half of the match.

“I was talking to (MS) Dhoni after the match and he told me that India would have done the same had they won the toss today,”

he said.

Malik said that Pakistan’s plan was to get some early wickets using the morning conditions that favoured the pacers.

“We were unlucky the wickets didn’t come in spite of some good bowling by Shoaib (Akhtar) and Umar (Gul),”

he added.

Malik said that Pakistan were still in with a chance to win the series saying that they would decide their line-up for the remaining two games after seeing the wicket in Gwalior and Jaipur. He praised the form of opener Salman Butt saying that it was a big plus for Pakistan.

Skipper plays down Afridi-Gambhir spat

KANPUR, India: Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik played down an incident that took place during his team’s third one-dayer against India when Shahid Afridi had a war or words with Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir.

“It was nothing,”

Malik said after the match which Pakistan lost.

“It just happened in the heat of the moment and later I went to Gautam and apologised to him on behalf of Afridi,”

he added.

After the first two games that went smoothly, the cricket community was reminded about the intensity of Pakistan-Indian encounter when Afridi and Gambhir had a spat during the Kanpur one-dayer.

It all happened when Gautam came to the crease at the dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar and soon drove Afridi for a boundary after which the duo got engaged in a verbal clash. It got worse when Gautam decided to go up to Afridi and said something which by judging Afridi’s reaction made it clear that Gambhir wasn’t exchanging any pleasantries.

The eyeball-to-eyeball encounter between the rival players was finally cut short by umpire Ian Gould. The umpire took Gambhir aside and asked him to control his emotions and also gave a similar advice to Afridi.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni also played down the incident.

“Agar yeh nahi hota tau pata kaisay chalta ka yeh Pakistan-India series hay (If this hadn’t happen then how will you know that it is a Pakistan-India series),”

he said smilingly at a post-match press conference.

Change in Pakistan's tour itinerary

The third ODI of Pakistan's tour of India which was scheduled for November 12 in Kanpur will now be played on November 11. The reason, BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said, was because the Indian board wanted the match to be held on a Sunday.

As a result of that change, the first and second ODIs have also been brought forward by a day. The first match will now be played on November 5 and the second on November 8.

The Pakistan Cricket Board was keen to fit in a Twenty20 match during the tour to raise funds for the Bob Woolmer cricket academy but PCB Chairman Nasim Ashraf said the Indian board had rejected the proposal.

"They [BCCI] say that since the ICC has kept a cap of seven Twenty20 matches a year for all teams, they can't fit in this match this season,"

Ashraf said.

"But we feel this is a match for a noble cause and something can be managed. We are still trying to convince the Indian board to review the situation. We are very keen to do something for Woolmer's academy and if it is not possible on this tour we will look at other alternatives as well."

Gill Woolmer, Bob's wife, had sent a letter to the Pakistan and Indian boards requesting them to play a Twenty20 international to raise funds for the academy which Woolmer had established in his hometown of Cape Town.