The tone is set by, who else, but the coach himself. “I felt that they are mentally retarded people,” team coach Intikhab Alam is quoted to have told the committee. “They do not know that they are representing the country.”
Alam spoke about indiscipline in the team, and in this context mentioned Shoaib Malik - a name that continues to crop up in the statements of other members of the Pakistan touring party Down-Under. The coach identified Malik as someone with a “negative attitude” who was “active in intrigues in the team”.
Alam, along with a number of national players and team officials, had appeared before a PCB probe committee in February. The inquiry focused on the debacles in Australia that concluded in January this year, but Pakistan's tour to the United Arab Emirates and New Zealand in November also came under discussion for having generated news of a rift within the team.
The 'in-house' probe committee was headed by PCB's chief operating officer Wasim Bari and comprised Tafazzul Hussain Rizvi, Wazir Ali Khoja, Yawar Saeed, Zakir Khan and Haroon Rashid.
In comparison to his condemnation of Malik, Alam allowed Younis Khan, who has also had his share of controversy in recent times, to get off lightly. Khan, according to Intikhab Alam, remained “aloof” and didn't associate with players, yet the coach considered him more suitable (as captain) than Muhammad Yousuf. However, Alam's choice as the skipper of Pakistan was none other than the current T-20 captain of the national team, Shahid Afridi - even though Afridi was under the microscope for ball tampering.
Among the players condemned by Intikhab Alam was Rana Navidul Hasan. Rana Navid's integrity was “80 per cent doubtful” to the coach, whatever the term meant.
Coach Alam confessed to having heard that a group of “six to seven” players had gone to former captain Inzamamul Haq's house before the UAE tour last November where they “took oath on the Quran that they will remain united against (the then skipper) Younis Khan”.
The players in their statements denied the allegation with Shoaib Malik claiming that while an oath was taken, the venue was Yousuf's hotel room and not Inzamam's house. More significantly, Malik said what the players had vowed for on the occasion was that they will remain united in case a team member was dropped “unjustifiably”. In a most damaging diagnosis that could ever be attempted by a coach of his players, Intikhab Alam said “there is a mental problem with our players. They don't know how to wear their clothes and how to talk in a civilised manner”.
And not content with his criticism of how they appeared in public, Alam cited the team's Sri Lankan physiotherapist to report on the innovative ways adopted by Pakistani players in spaces where they should have been left alone. The leaks of the statements before the inquiry committee suffer on account of bad transcription but what the veteran Pakistani national trainer appeared to be upset that his wards were not 'toilet-trained'.
The last observation made by Intikhab Alam was reflective of the acrimony the national team had been beset with during the Australian tour and thereabout. The others who appeared before the probe committee were perhaps a bit more mindful of the privacy of the subjects they were asked to shed light on, however, collectively they painted the picture of a house divided beyond reconciliation.
Upon his turn before the committee, assistant coach Aaqib Javed accused Younis Khan of never encouraging players as a captain.
He reported how both Shoaib Malik and Salman Butt refused to play a Test match in New Zealand last season claiming they were unwell and said how, instead of providing the team with new vigour, on the same tour, captain Muhammad Yousuf chose to accuse certain players such as Shoaib Malik of not cooperating with him.
While Aaqib Javed spoke of a rift between Kamran Akmal and Umar Gul in New Zealand, team manager Abdur Raquib mentioned an argument between Gul and young left arm seamer Muhammad Aamer during the second Test against the Kiwis. As culled from the documents recording the inquiry committee proceedings, the bone of contention between Mr Gul and Mr Aamer may have been a fielding position that Aamer preferred for himself close to where a group of women spectators happened to be sitting.
On a more serious note, Abdur Raquib told the committee coach Intikhab Alam had decided to send Shoaib Malik home from the UAE tour last year but was persuaded to change his mind by Kamran Akmal, and surprisingly, by Muhammad Yousuf who hardly had an ideal relationship with Malik.
On his part, Muhammad Yousuf was defensive and denied many a statement that was attributed to him - such as Yousuf having said that Kamran Akmal did not have his heart in the game. But it was Yousuf eventually who named players who should have been excluded from the national team.
The probe committee transcript says Yousuf gave the names of four players, but actually mentions five names in this regard. From among the five nominated by Yousuf for this dubious distinction, Shoaib Malik and rookie middle-order batsman
Umar Akmal were to be removed on disciplinary grounds, while Fawad Alam, Umar Gul and Umar's elder brother, Kamran Akmal, were to be dropped on the basis of their poor performance.
Apart from Yousuf, Aaqib Javed was the only respondent who told the committee categorically the names of the players who he thought should have been axed. His list of pariahs included Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan and Muhammad Yousuf. He recommended Shahid Afridi as the T-20 captain even though he held Afridi responsible for creating a nuisance along with Malik, Younis and Yousuf. In the final analysis, the PCB seemed to have acted on his advice as it banned Malik, Younis and Yousuf and appointed Afridi as the captain of the T-20 team.
Tainted by the ball-biting incident in the last ODI in Australia, Afridi evidently enjoyed a good enough reputation with the probe committee members when he testified in front of them in mid-February. The transcripts show that the committee actually thanked him for appearing before it while if ever the same protocol was afforded to others, the transcripts don't say so.
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