Pakistan hopes hurt by captaincy confusion – Inzamam

KARACHI, (Reuters) – Former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq  says Pakistan’s World Cup chances have been hampered by the  board’s delay in naming a skipper for the tournament.
“I fear the same fate as 2003 and 2007 for this team because  just three weeks before the World Cup, the players don’t know  who will lead them in such a big event,” Pakistan’s most-capped  player told the Daily Jang newspaper today.

Inzamam-ul-Haq
Inzamam-ul-Haq

“I blame the cricket board for creating this crisis,” he  added. “By not announcing the captain it has created two groups  in the team.”
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have announced their final  World Cup squad but held back on naming a captain with  all-rounder and one-day skipper Shahid Afridi vying for the role  with test captain Misbah-ul-Haq.
“They are two groups in the team: the Shahid Afridi group  and the Misbah group, and in these circumstances it is unnatural  to expect this team to perform well,” Inzamam added.
The veteran of 120 tests and 388 one-dayers said the board  would be committing suicide by changing the captain so close to  the World Cup starting on Feb. 19 and co-hosted by India, Sri  Lanka and Bangladesh.
“There is already uncertainty in the team and this will only  create more friction and problems,” he added.
“If they don’t perform in the World Cup some players will be  made scapegoats as usual when it is the board which is to blame  for the crisis.”
The 40-year-old former batsman was captain at the last World  Cup in the Caribbean when Pakistan were shocked by minnows  Ireland and exited in the first round.
In the 2003 World Cup, Pakistan were also knocked out in the  group stages with Inzamam scoring just 19 runs in six innings.
Former captain Javed Miandad, however, advised the players  to just focus on cricket.
“We have a good one-day combination which can do well in the  World Cup but the players first need to adopt a more  professional approach,” Miandad told Reuters, adding that they  should avoid making unnecessary statements to the media.
“They must learn from someone like (India batting great)  Sachin Tendulkar. He has scored so many runs and hundreds but  you hardly ever hear him making any claims in the media. He  performs like a professional.”
Miandad and Inzamam were members of Pakistan’s victorious  1992 World Cup squad.