Younus, Afridi call truce in a close-door meeting

KARACHI: With a packed four-month long cricketing schedule awaiting Pakistan, captain Younis Khan and his deputy Shahid Afridi have cleared their misunderstanding in a meeting here, sources said on Friday.
According to well placed sources, as the team prepares for the long tour of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, New Zealand and Australia, Abdul Raquib, sports division head of Habib Bank for whom they play in domestic circuit, arranged the truce meeting between the senior players.
"Raquib arranged the meeting as he is due to be named as manager of the national team for the coming tours," one source disclosed.
He said the meeting was held basically to remove any bad blood between the players belonging to the North West Frontier Province region.
"There was obviously some misunderstanding between the two. They have also realized that some people and players in the team were trying to create a wedge between them for their own sake," the source said.
As per reports, Afridi irked Younis when he went to meet Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaz Butt and apparently complained about the captain's behaviour towards the players on recent tours.
But the source said Afridi had clarified to Younis that he met the PCB chief to only discuss about the future plans of Pakistan Twenty20 team as he was recently named the T20 skipper until the next World Cup of the shorter version.
"Younis also made it clear that he had no personal grievances against any player and if he had scolded or told any player something, it was in the larger interest of the team," the source said.
Younis made it clear that as captain he needed his deputy other players' support but would not tolerate lack of commitment from his teammates.