Shoaib Akhtar lashes out at PCB chairman

KARACHI: Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhar on Tuesday lashed out at PCB chief Najam Sethi saying cricket in the country has further deteriorated under him, after a sudden withdrawal of allrounders Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik from the South African tour due to fitness problems.

"This is really a joke and sad the way Pakistan cricket is being run. You mean to tell me no one knew about the fitness position of these players when the team flew straight to South Africa from Dubai," Akhtar said on Geo news channel.

"I don't know what is going to happen in Pakistan cricket because now it is at its lowest ebb. How can the team management and board say Malik and Razzaq are returning home because they are not fit. Didn't the selectors or team management not know the condition of these player why were they included for the South African tour," he asked.

Akhtar criticised Sethi and his style of management saying cricket had gone from bad to worse under him.

He deplored Sethi for having captain Misbah-ul-Haq on his talk show and then asking him questions about the team and his form and captaincy on Live TV.

"For god's sake doesn't he know he is the Chairman and not a TV anchor now. I don't know who gave him this advice to do this but it was really embarrassing the way he was cross questioning Misbah and the way he (Misbah) retorted back aggressively. It was a sham," Akhtar said.

He pointed out that he had never seen such a thing happening anywhere in his life.

"Where does the board Chairman come on television and start cross questioning his own captain," he asked.

The programme which is normally a political talk show saw Sethi asking Misbah the reasons for the team's recent performance and the captain responding rather aggressively to some questions.