PCB stays mute on Afridi interview

The Pakistan Cricket Board has refrained from making any comment on the recent interview of Shahid Afridi in which he again criticized the Board's functioning.

"Why should we react? He is a retired player now and entitled to his opinion," a board official said.

Another official said a lot of former players have their different views on Pakistan cricket, the team, the board and officials and this is their right.

Afridi who announced his retirement in protest in late May after being removed as the captain of the national ODI team over a tiff with head coach, Waqar Younis in the West Indies has left for England to play for Hampshire.

Afridi who left on Wednesday morning will represent his county in the English domestic T20 quarter finals before returning home to take part in the ongoing Ramazan tournaments.

The all-rounder said in the interview that he wanted to make a graceful exit from the sport and would make a comeback to the team. He wants the environment and conditions in the team management and board  to improve.

The flamboyant all-rounder who has represented Pakistan in 325 ODIs and also led them to the 2011 World Cup semi-finals this year was fined 4.5 million rupees by the disciplinary committee of the board in June for breaching the code of conduct before being given a NOC to play in foreign leagues.

A source in the board said that the PCB Chairman, Ijaz Butt had not reacted to the interview of Afridi and maintained a calm over it.

"That is perhaps because Butt has won an extension as Chairman of the board from the chief patron, President Asif Zardari and is now focusing on other cricket matters," the source added.