Denied captaincy, Afridi threatens to quit side

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: March 5, 2010

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Karachi: Controversial Pakistan all-rounder, Shahid Afridi, is not happy with the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) as he threatened to quit the side after he was denied the captaincy of the domestic team.

Afridi, who is playing in the national Twenty20 championship being held in the city, is upset at being ignored for the captaincy of the Karachi team in the tournament and minced no words in making his feelings clear on this issue.

“I think the KCCA senior officials need to rethink their attitude towards senior players and how they treat them,” Afridi told reporters at the national stadium.

The KCCA has appointed Muhammad Sami as the captain of one of the Karachi teams in the tournament, ignoring Afridi, who is the skipper of Pakistan’s national T20 team.

“I think the KCCA officials should have had the courtesy to at least tell me why they didn’t want me as captain. I am always prepared to play even as an ordinary player but there is a way you treat senior players and the KCCA is not doing that,” he said. “I have always taken a lot of pride in representing Karachi in domestic cricket but if the KCCA continue to treat senior players badly then even I might be forced to play for some other region in coming events.”

The KCCA secretary Siraj-ul-Islam Bukhari, who has held the post for more than three decades now, said Afridi had misunderstood the situation.

“The fact is that last season when we wanted him to lead the side, he was not available, and this year we also had to take into consideration the fact that Muhammad Sami had led Karachi to the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy title and deserved to continue as captain,” Bukhari said.

But Afridi hit back at Bukhari, saying that last year he didn’t want to captain the side because the Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam had told him to play just two matches in the domestic competition.

“Since I was not available for the entire tournament, I decided it would be better if the KCCA appointed someone else as captain who could lead in the entire event,” Afridi added. “I have no big issue with the captaincy. I am playing under Sami but it is also a fact that a senior player like me deserves better treatment from the home association.”

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