The spirited exchange between Deccan Chargers player Shahid Afridi and team captain V V S Laxman made for some very interesting reading with Afridi claiming that the interests of the team would have been better served by Adam Gilchrist as captain with the skipper indicating that Afridi’s remarks were unprofessional and uncalled for.
The verbal dueling between an aggressive Shahid Afridi and the gentlemanly V V S Laxman has become one of the most recent cricket controversies to hit the headlines. The flamboyant Pathan is obviously smarting from the poor showing of the Deccan Chargers’ players under V V S’s captaincy and is of the opinion that the live cricket scores of the players would have been far better under the stewardship of Adam Gilchrist. Not to be outdone, V V S riposted by indicating that Afridi lacked the kind of team ethics that are required for international cricket and said that this attack was both uncalled for, and unprovoked.
As a rejoinder to V V S’s comments, Afridi toned down a bit but maintained his stand, indicating that live cricket would be better served by Laxman showing more aggression on the field while live cricket was being played. "Perhaps what I said about the Chargers team on the television show has come out a bit too strong but my only point was that Laxman needs to be more aggressive on the field," Afridi said.
From among the team members Afridi spoke about Gilchrist saying “He played some really good innings and his input was very good at times on the field. If they (the Cricket Board) do appoint Adam as captain I think he would be a better choice than Laxman”. While being critical of Laxman, Afridi also admitted to his own poor showing in international cricket, particularly the IPL, while acknowledging the contribution of other players. He also indicated that changing the coach of the side would not improve the teams’ performance; in live cricket the coach did not have that much of a role. Live cricket required a captain with a more front foot attitude than Laxman’s more predominantly back foot attitude.
Laxman’s contention was that Afridi is highly experienced in international cricket and should know better than to speak so critically of the team or its players and especially the captain. "He should know that it was a collective failure because he was part of the team. It is unfortunate that he chose to blame the captain for it," Laxman added. While Afidi’s outburst has given rise to one more in a line of cricket controversies, perhaps there is some merit in his contention that for live cricket of the T20 format, Laxman may not have the best temperament?
