Trouble brewing in Pakistan camp

PAK STILL SORE

There was a serious postmortem session between a PCB official and some Pakistani journalists about the reasons for Pakistan’s defeat to India. The frenzy around the match was listed as a factor, which the Pakistan team apparently failed to handle. “First you have the match right in the beginning of the tournament, and then there is such a rush in the hotel that the players didn’t have food an hour after they were back,“ the official said. One hopes things will get a little quieter and Pakistan will notch up a couple of wins to get back on track.

Pakistan appear to be dogged by controversy Down.The latest jolt to have struck the team is the departure of fielding coach Grant Luden, who frustrated with having taken flak from former players for his men’s onfield inadequacy resigned angrily from his post.

Before playing India, Luden had had serious arguments with senior players Shahid Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal.

Media from Australia has quoted its source as saying, “When Luden came down hard on Shehzad, Afridi came to his rescue and the two had an argument with Luden.” The source added, “Umar later complained to the team manager accusing Luden of using abusive words during training.”

Pakistan cricket management  moved to deny news reports that Luden had resigned over disagreements with senior players, but later said that the South African wanted to leave the job before the World Cup.

Luden was hired as fielding coach cum-trainer in May last year and handed a two-year contract.  The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) denied Luden had resigned after the India match. “Reports stating that there has been a tiff between three players Afridi, Shehzad and Akmal and fielding coach-cum-trainer Luden and that the latter has resigned because of it, it is clarified that the news is absolutely false and that nothing of the sort has happened,“ said the PCB release. “The entire team trained together in Christchurch  under the supervision of head coach Waqar Younis with each of the other coaches where some players were put through their paces by all coaches, with Luden putting in an extra hour on both days with a select group of players.“The PCB admitted Luden had signalled his interest to quit before the World Cup started.