There have been unconfirmed reports suggesting that Talat Ali, Pakistan's manager had a showdown with all-rounder Shahid Afridi during the national team’s training camp which concluded recently in Abbottabad. The incident happened on th eteam bus when Salaman Butt couldn't find a seat and had to sit on the gearbox of the bus. At that point Talat Ali asked Shahid Afridi to vacate a seat for Salman pointing out that he was thier vice captain. Upon hearing this Shahid Afridi offered his seat making a sarcastic comment saying "afterall Salman is our vice captain." An argument ensued between Talat Ali and Shahid Afridi resulting in some harsh words being spoken by both sides and according to some uncofirmed reports, Afridi rushed to assault Talat but was stopped by other team members.
Later on talking to journalists, Talat laughed off this version saying that the incident has ‘tremendously been blown out of proportion’. “May be there are some elements, who have their own hidden agenda and are trying to spread disharmony in the Pakistan team,” he said. Talat said that there is little truth in the ‘false reports’. “Actually, it was no big deal,” he said.
“These are false reports,” claimed Talat, who is looking after the team’s coaching in the absence of a national coach. “There have been no revolts and there would be no revolts. Our team is slowly turning into a well-oiled unit and we are looking forward our future assignments,” he added.
“There is complete harmony in my team and if some people are saying otherwise then they have malicious intentions,” Talat told ‘The News’ in a telephonic interview from Lahore.
According to Talat, what happened was that when Butt entered the team bus all the best seats were already occupied and he had to fit himself into a small seat near the gear box. “Pointing towards the side where some of the junior players were sitting, I just said that one of you should offer his seat to Salman, he is your vice-captain. It was Afridi who said that ‘he can take my seat, after all he is the vice-captain’. I told him (Afridi) to stay where he is and that some junior boy would vacate his seat but he was insistent and I had to tell him firmly to stop it. That is all that happened and now people are trying to make stories of it,” he explained. Talat, however, did admit that Afridi was a ‘bit sarcastic’ when he offered to vacate his seat for Butt. “He did sound a bit bitter but that was all,” he said.
Afridi, 27, was a candidate for captaincy following the resignation of Inzamam-ul-Haq after the World Cup debacle in March. But he and other senior players like senior batsman Mohammad Yousuf and all-rounder Abdul Razzaq were all overlooked by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that appointed young all-rounder Shoaib Malik as the new Pakistan captain.
Sources close to Afridi said that the player later anticipated that the Board would appoint him as the vice-captain but initially the PCB chose medium pacer Mohammad Asif for the job and later replaced him with Butt.
Sources say that Butt’s appointment has not been welcomed by some of the senior players especially the volatile Afridi. Before his appointment as Malik’s deputy, Butt was counted among the team’s junior players. When it comes to seniority there is no comparison. When Afridi made his international debut for Pakistan in 1996, Butt was just an 11-year-old schoolboy.
Afridi has scored 5074 runs and taken 204 from 240 one-dayers besides scoring 1683 runs from 26 Tests. Butt has played 14 Tests and 26 one-dayers since making his international debut as a promising teenager in 2003.
However, Talat said that the team management is working to promote a new culture within the national team where ‘performance and not seniority’ would be rewarded. “We had made it clear to all players that they have to behave professionally and can only stay in the team purely on the basis of performance,” he said.
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