According to an official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Shahid Afridi’s refusal to keep himself away from media was the prime reason behind his removal from captaincy.
The official, on the condition of anonymity, said that the former skipper was asked many times to keep ‘internal matters’ within the team but he did not take warnings seriously.
Although, the PCB chairman, Ijaz Butt’s decision of sacking Afridi and appointing Misbah-ul-Haq as the captain for the upcoming two-match ODI series against Ireland, is being severely criticised by the former cricketers, the insiders of the board clarified that there were some solid grounds for the action.
"There were a number of factors involved in Butt deciding to remove Afridi as captain but the main was his refusal to listen to board warnings about repeatedly going to the media with internal matters," one official source said.
He described that even before the recent ICC World Cup 2011, the chairman was not keen to appoint Afridi as the captain of the side and that was the reason behind the delay in announcement of the skipper for the showpiece event.
Highlighting the background of Butt’s recent controversial decision, the official said, "In one particular incident Afridi was called to a meeting by Butt in which the PCB Chairman discussed an issue with him about which no one had knowledge except the two and the chief operating officer.”
"The next day when the issue was highlighted in the media, Butt had no doubt left who was behind the leakage as only Afridi didn`t know that the information given to him on the issue was incorrect," the source added.
Referring to the recent clash between Afridi and the coach, Waqar Younis over team selection, the PCB official explained that Ijaz Butt asked Afridi to sort out things after the West Indies tour and not to go to the media, but the flamboyant all-rounder did not pay any head to his words.
Butt has always been censured for changing captains frequently. However, the source claimed that thechairman has made it clear to the players that he will not allow anyone to violate the code of conduct.
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