Pak lost to WI, Ireland as its focus was religion, not cricket: Mir

Pakistan team’s focus on religion rather than cricket led to defeats against West Indies and minnows Ireland, media manager for the World Cup team Pervez Mir complained to the three-member World Cup probe committee.

''I told the committee that the players were not focussed on cricket in the World Cup. They were more into religion,'' Mir, also a former Pakistan player, said.

''The boys were in the West Indies to play in the most prestigious cricket tournament but I am sorry to say they lacked determination for the games they played. And when you are not focussed on your original mission then you cannot achieve success,'' a PCB spokesman told Daily Times yesterday.

Mir said the players, led by Inzamam-ul-Haq made a public show of it rather pray privately and in the process compromised with their primary duty of playing cricket.

''I told the committee that Pakistani players, rather than pray privately, tried to make it a public spectacle,'' he was quoted by 'Daily Times'.

Mir had cited incidents to highlight his point and added that some players, led by captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, even made it a point to pray in the galley of aircrafts on flights rather than privately in their seats.

''Mir told the committee members that the players were not fully focussed on cricket in the World Cup. They were more into religion.

This lack of focus was responsible for defeats against the West Indies and minnows Ireland,'' the board official said.

The performance evaluation committee, headed by Test cricketer Ejaz Butt and Salahuddin Ahmad and Salim Altaf has been constituted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to look into the disastrous first-round exit from the ongoing showpiece event in West Indies.

Inzamam, who stepped down as captain and retired from One-day Internationals (ODIs) after the World Cup, had been criticised for using the team platform for religious activities.

Pakistan’s late coach Bob Woolmer had also complained to the board that he found it frustrating to see the players taking part in religious activities after matches when he wanted to discuss cricket with them.

Mir said every Muslim had to offer prayers but it was an individual act and for his own interest, and no one could object to it. But every action had a limitation.

''I have video footage provided to me by some foreign media persons which will prove me right. I will handover those tapes to the PCB,'' Mir told the probe committee.

A member of the committee, which has to give its report in 30 days, said Mir’s statement was disturbing.

Saleem Altaf, a senior board official too, said the committee would also be calling former chairmen of the board Tauqir Zia and Shaharyar Khan next week.

About the match-fixing issue, Mir said there was no match-fixing involved in the matches and such allegations were baseless.

''If someone believes that match-fixing took place then he should give proof to the authorities for action,'' Mir said.

UNI XC SAM PM1400

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