Islamabad, May 22 : Former Pakistan cricketers and administrators have blasted the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ijaz Butt for sacking Shahid Afridi as the national team’s One-Day International (ODI) skipper.

Afridi had been leading the Twenty20 and ODI sides since early 2010 before the PCB recently removed him as one-day captain for the forthcoming series against Ireland, appointing Test captain Misbahul Haq, 37, as his successor.

Butt, who used his powers as the PCB chief to change Pakistan’s ODI captain, also refused to give any reason for his decision.

“Captains are changed all over the world and no cricket board gives a reason for that. We did what we thought was best and don’t need to give a reason for it,” Butt was quoted as saying.

“This decision of Ijaz [Butt] will only fan more groupings in the team,” the Daily Times quoted former PCB chairman Lieutenant General (retired) Tauqir Zia, as saying.

“It makes no sense to remove Afridi as captain when he has led the team well and with fire, and did well in taking the team to the World Cup semifinals,” he added.

Analysts believe that the notice issued by the PCB to Afridi for speaking about problems in the team management, after returning home from the Caribbean tour, led to his sacking as ODI skipper.

Zia said that by frequently changing captains, the board was encouraging groupings in the team, whereas former chief selector and Test spinner Iqbal Qasim felt that the PCB had displayed its inconsistency again by changing the captain.

He pointed out that the board had assigned separate roles to Afridi and Misbah only last year, and that the change in the one-day captaincy indicated the inconsistency in the policies of the board.

During his tenure starting from October 2008, Butt has changed captains 11 times in all three formats of the game.

Former leg-spinner Abdul Qadir said the board had acted hastily in removing Afridi as captain. “Dropping Afridi as captain and retaining him in the side to play under Misbah appears a bad move,” he said, adding, “Afridi should also be careful in giving media statements. But the fact is changing the captaincy is a cricketing decision and this one is not a sagacious one.”

Former chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed felt that the PCB has become a one-man show for the last two years.

“Players are the ones who bring in money for the board and attract people to the sport. Afridi didn’t commit a crime if he spoke about problems he was facing as captain. Instead of listening to him, the board sacked him as captain. This is unjust and unfair, and the government should take notice of this,” he said. (ANI)