No discord in Pak team,says Alam

Alam noted that even when Pakistan was not doing well in the Twenty20 World Cup some former players and critics had talked about discord within the team.

“But we went on to win the World Cup and silenced our critics,” he added.

Intikhab said he and the players were utterly disappointed and sad over the statements emanating from Pakistan.

The Pakistan coach also refused to run down the senior players in the side for the defeats in Sri Lanka insisting that no player lost his wicket or performed badly on purpose.

“No player wants to fail and I think our senior players are going through a bad time,” he said.

When pointed out that captain Younis Khan had made some stinging comments about the performance of the senior players,Intikhab said he did not agree with those remarks.

Alam also made it clear that senior all-rounder Abdul Razzaq did not command a place in the Test side at present and so was not played in the Tests.

He said Pakistan lost both Tests because of inapt batting and they needed to work on that in the final Test. “I am not giving excuses but the fact is that for the last two years we have just been playing one-dayers or T20 matches so obviously our performance in Tests was going to be affected,” he said.

He also dismissed allegations by former chief selector Abdul Qadir that he and manager Yawar Saeed had combined to keep fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar out of the squad.

“Look it was not my sole decision to drop him for the World Cup. This decision was made on the recommendations of a three-member medical panel. So how can I be blamed for his ouster.” He,however,shied away from commenting on Shoaib’s possible return to the side for the one-day series in Sri Lanka insisting that right now his concentration was on salvaging some pride in the final test. “There is still some time for the one-dayers so we will take it when it comes.”