Pakistan’s disappointing cricket World Cup campaign has not just been about missed opportunities on the field.
According to a report on ‘Dawn News TV’, head coach Waqar Younis submitted a strongly-worded report to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) complaining about the behaviour of players Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal and Muhammad Hafeez.
The report claims that Younis Khan advised the PCB to talk to Shehzad, Umar and Hafeez about their behaviour.
Hafeez, who was a member of the squad, returned home before the tournament started after getting injured in a two match one-day series in New Zealand in early February.
On returning home, and after missing the first two games of the Cricket World Cup, he claimed his injury was not a serious one and he could have recovered.
He also said he was surprised at the decision of the team management to send him back without taking his view.
There were speculations that Hafeez had a argument with Waqar during a training session.
Waqar has also recommended that Umar Akmal be sent back to play domestic cricket and be not picked for the national side until he improves his approach to batting.
He has also suggested that in order to improve the quality of players in the national side, the Board should restrict the top domestic tournaments to just 10 teams.
In what is considered to be a surprise recommendation, Waqar also suggested Azhar Ali name for ODI captaincy after the retirement of Misbah-ul-Haq.
Waqar had earlier never seemed inclined to pick Azhar for limited overs cricket. He also ignored Azhar when choosing the World Cup squad even while Hafeez was injured and had returned home.
Thirty year old Azhar, who last played a one-day international in India in early 2013, is a regular Test player having appeared in 39 matches with a healthy batting average of 41.
Waqar Younis, in his report, has also suggested that specialist Test batsman Azhar Ali be appointed as the new captain of the one-day side
No official in the PCB was available for comment.
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