The
tourists have been receiving one bad news after another since their fourth and final Test at
Lord’s against England late last month and Thursday was no exception.
As
the Pakistanis trained ahead of the opening ODI here this morning, news coming
from Pakistan revealed that Wahab Riaz, the rookie fast bowler who is part of
Pakistan’s 15-man squad for the five-match ODI series, is the fourth players
allegedly involved in a spot-fixing’ scandal and will appear before Scotland
Yard officers on Tuesday.
Wahab,
who took a sensational five-wicket haul on his debut in the third Test at The
Oval last month, was unlikely to play in Friday’s game but the latest
development has added to Pakistan’s frustration.
“What
can you do,” asked Shahid Afridi. “Our problems continue to get bigger every
day,” sighed Pakistan’s one-day captain, who is hoping against hope to lift his
team following two crushing Twenty20 International defeats in Cardiff on Sunday
and Tuesday.
Pakistan
were left without three of their key players – Test captain Salman Butt and
fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir – when the trio were suspended by
the ICC because of spot-fixing allegations against them.
The
three players could be banned for life if found guilty. In addition, there are
reports that the ICC is also investigating Kamran Akmal, Pakistan’s
wicket-keeper for suspected links with match-fixers.
Not
surprisingly, Pakistan failed to click in Cardiff and are facing the prospects
of a 5-nil whitewash in the one-day series.
But
Afridi is confident that his proud team will never allow it.
“I
don’t think we should be talking about a whitewash,” he told Arab News. “We are
still a good side and just need to get our confidence back. We can do that by
winning a match and will try to give our best to achieve that result here
tomorrow,” stressed the flamboyant allrounder.
Pakistan
will go into the first ODI with a big question mark on the form of almost all
of their batters.
Shahzaib
Hasan has been unable to find many runs after hitting a brilliant hundred in a
warm-up match against Somerset in Taunton last week.
Kamran
Akmal has been in an awful form right through this tour though Afridi is hoping
that he will shine in the coming matches. “Kami (Kamran) is an experienced
player and I’m sure that he would soon be back in full flow.” Mohammad Hafeez and Fawad Alam, who joined
the team after the Test series, have also failed to impress. Afridi said that
his players should prove their worth.
“They’ve
been given this excellent opportunity to prove their worth and should rise to
the occasion,” he said.
Afridi,
too, has been unable to score many runs but the skipper is confident that he
would lead from the front in the ODI series. “I won’t let my team down,” he
said.
Mohammad
Yousuf, the team’s most experienced batsman, also flopped in Cardiff but
Pakistan are hoping that he would regain his golden form in the forthcoming
50-over matches.
Tall
paceman Mohammad Irfan and young batsman Asad Shafiq have joined Pakistan in
Durham, giving the team management a bigger choice than it had for the Twenty20
games.
