Pakistan senators want stricter action against Afridi

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: February 16, 2010

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Karachi: Pakistan’s parliamentary sports committee has asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for a strict disciplinary action against Shahid Afridi, who was banned for ball-tampering during the recently concluded tour of Australia.

Afridi, who was leading the side in the absence of skipper Mohammad Yousuf in the fifth and final one-dayer at Perth, was caught biting the ball on camera. He was subsequently banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for two Twenty20 games and missed one T20 international against Australia. He will also be out for the first encounter against England on February 18 in Dubai.

Senator Tariq Azeem, a member of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Sports, recommended that the PCB should ban all-rounder Shahid Afridi for five years for biting the ball during an ODI against Australia last month.

“He (Afridi) has brought a bad name for our country. He should be punished severely to ensure that no player does such an act in future,” Azeem said.

However, committee chairman Ghaffar Qureshi later said these were the personal views of Sanator Azeem. “Our committee does believe that some action should be taken against Afridi but the committee has not recommended a five-year ban for the player. Those were Senator Azeem’s personal views,” he said.

The committee told the PCB that considering the level of offense, Afridi deserves stricter punishment than just a two-match ban. “If he (Afridi) bites the ball like an apple, there are lots of problems behind it,” Senator Haroon Akhtar told PCB chairman Ijaz Butt. “If you don’t take action, this will happen again. The team lacks discipline and you’ve got to rectify the problem.”

Butt, however, told the committee that the board could not punish Afridi further. “The ICC has told us clearly that you can’t punish a player twice for one offence,” Butt said. “Their lawyer has also suggested that if we handed more punishment to Afridi, and he challenges it in court, it will run the PCB into trouble.”

Senator Tariq Azeem, though, shot back, saying that selecting a player was at the PCB’s discretion. “The ICC can’t question you if you don’t pick him up in the national team,” he said. “You should not compromise the integrity of the nation. No player is indispensable. We should tell the world that we are not cheaters and we know how to deal with indisciplined players.”

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