Shoaib’s brother blames Afridi for the brawl

The Pakistan Cricket Board has said he will remain under an indefinite ban until the team returns home from South Africa and a disciplinary hearing will be held to decide if Shoaib should be further penalized for his actions.

But Shoaib’s brother Shahid claimed that his brother had been provoked into the incident by Afridi and Asif.

“I spoke to Shoaib and from what I gather it was Afridi who instigated the whole thing and Asif used abusive language against Shoaib, who then lost his cool as any normal person would do,” Shahid said.

He refused to elaborate what could be Afridi’s motive behind starting the brawl but said the allrounder was manipulating things in the dressing room to undermine captain Shoaib Malik.

Akhtar also said on telephone he was provoked by something told by Asif.

“I am returning home tomorrow (Saturday) and will hold a press conference to let the people know why I reacted so angrily. But all the same I regret my actions in the heat of the moment,” he said.

“But people and media must understand that I am also a human being and can react in such circumstances. I have never behaved like this my life.”

According to team insiders, when the brawl took place in the dressing room, the other players and officials were out on the field having a nets session. Shoaib and Afridi were sitting together in the dressing room talking on some issue.

“Asif came out of the washroom and joined in the discussion. Something that tripped off something in Shoaib’s mind and he not only punched his teammate but also poked his thigh with a bat,” one insider said.

He said later all the three players went out and Shoaib went to the captain and informed him about the incident. Asif also went to the physiotherapist and showed him the bruise on his left thigh after which manager Talat Ali came into the picture, he added.

He said no one knew for sure what sort of conversation had taken place between the three, which led to a violent reaction from Shoaib. Shoaib, however, said he was shattered at missing the Twenty20 World Cup as he had prepared hard.

“I so much wanted to do something in this event for my team and country as I made a comeback to the team after such a long time. I regret what happened and I had immediately apologized to Asif but he didn’t respond,” said Shoaib.

“It was a two minute temper loss that has ruined my comeback to the national team.”

Shoaib interestingly also compared his temper loss with that of French footballer Zinadene Zidane during the 2006 World Cup final in which Zidane head butted Italian player Marco Materazzi for abusing him and was sent off the field.

“He had also reacted to a personal insult and I also did the same thing. But I don’t want to be misunderstood by anyone.”