Lahore, May 8 (Inditop.com) Former Pakistan Test cricketer Intikhab Alam, who was the team’s coach during their disastrous tour to Australia earlier this year, said the national players behaved like a bunch of “mentally retarded” people during the series.
In the documents, secured by DawnNews television channel, members of the Pakistan team and the management were involved in muck slinging as they appeared before an inquiry committee constituted to look into Pakistan’s terrible performance Down Under.
“I felt they are mentally retarded people,” the then team coach Alam is quoted to have told the committee. “They do not know that they are representing the country.”
“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.”
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in March banned former captains Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf and took stern action against five other national cricketers on charges ranging from misconduct to ball tampering.
Those punished included former captain Shoaib Malik, Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan, Shahid Afridi and the Akmal brothers, Kamran and Umar.
Alam spoke about indiscipline in the team and singled out Shoaib Malik as someone with a “negative attitude” who was “active in intrigue in the team”. Malik denied the allegation in his statement.
Alam said he had been told that a group of six to seven players met at former captain Inzamam ul-Haq’s house before going to the United Arab Emirates last year and took oaths to remain “united against (then captain) Younis Khan.”
Alam, along with a number of national players and team officials, 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 UAE 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.