India registered their regulation World Cup victory over Pakistan, when they beat them by 6 wickets at Kolkata's Eden Gardens on Saturday. While it was a case of normalcy returning to the Indian camp, the volatile Pakistan camp was suffering that after-effects of the loss.
Pakistan's middle order batsman Umar Akmal was at the heart of the post-game fallout, when a video showing Umar Akmal requesting former Pakistani skipper Imran Khan to put in a word for his promotion in the batting order went viral on the internet and spark huge controversy in the Pakistan's cricketing fraternity.
A furious former skipper Ramiz Raza wants the team management to bench Akmal junior for his selfish attitude.
"I am very angry with Umar's behavior. Whenever he meets with a former great, he ends up talking about having his batting order changed. My heart says that for his behavior Umar should be sat out in the next match," Ramiz said on Geo News channel.
It was learnt that when Imran dropped in to meet the Pakistan players for a pep talk before the crucial game against India yesterday, Umar took the opportunity to ask him to tell the captain (Shahid Afridi) to send him to bat in the top order.
TV channels showed footage of Umar talking about it to Imran and the former great than turning around and telling someone that Umar should be sent to bat up the order.
Ramiz said that he was disappointed that Umar complained to Imran knowing well they were television cameras around them.
"Teams are never selected in such manner," the former captain lamented.
A reliable source in the Pakistan Cricket Board told PTI that Chairman Shaharyar Khan, who is present in Kolkata, had not taken kindly to Umar's antics and had spoken to the team management about the incident in front of cameras.
Umar has a history of disciplinary problems and has been in the past been censured or fined several times by the board for his behavior.
Ramiz also supported the decision to invite Imran for a pep talk.
"Before the 1992 World Cup final also, Imran had invited Sir Viv Richards to our dressing room. But the purpose of his visit was not give us technical or tactical advice but just give us a motivational speech," Ramiz recalled.
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