MANCHESTER: They came into the World Cup with huge expectations, but the wheels seem to be coming off rapidly for Afghanistan. The tournament is now turning out to be one disastrous campaign for the minnows.
WORLD CUP SCHEDULE | POINTS TABLEOn Tuesday, news was rife that their players were involved in a brawl with members of the public at a restaurant on the eve of the England game. Less than 24 hours later, coach
Phil Simmons launched a scathing outburst on Twitter against their chief selector
Dawlat Ahmadzai, exposing a serious rift in the team. The latest episode has mounted their troubles further.
Trouble was already brewing when the squad embarked on the tour for the World Cup.
Gulbadin Naib replaced Asghar Afghan as the 50-over captain. The bizarre last minute move was criticized publicly by senior players Rashid Khan and
Mohammad Nabi.
At the warm-up game against England ahead of the start of the tournament, Naib had refused to comment to a TOI question on whether the team atmosphere was on the mend following all this. His 'no comment' left things open to speculation that all wasn't within in the camp.
Irked by the change, an angry Simmons, alleging that he hadn't even been consulted before the decision was taken by the selectors, had announced that he would quit after the World Cup. On Wednesday, Simmons was further agitated when Ahmadzai blamed the team's coaching staff for the debacle.
"I am in the middle of a World Cup and trying to get our team to perform to the level we expect but at the end of the World Cup I will tell the Afghanistan people about the part that Mr Dawlat Ahmadzai had to play in our preparation and his part in the dismissal of #AsgharAfghan," Simmons tweeted.
In another tweet last week, he had said: "Me asking to renew my contract with ACB is absolutely untrue #FakeNews," he said.
Shahzad episodeThere was a third episode in Afghan team's series of troubles when their wicketkeeper-batsman
Mohammad Shahzad threatened to quit the game after being ruled out of the World Cup with a knee injury.
Shahzad played in Afghanistan's first two matches, but the Afghan board removed him from the squad due to the injury. Shahzad, though, claimed that the medical advice he sought suggested he would've been fit after a few days. Sadly, a tournament in which they should've been making a statement about their rapid progress, Afghanistan are left battling only controversies.
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