‘Team spirit was missing’

“I don’t want to take names here. And I don’t want to cry over spilt milk. But we have to look towards the future, towards building a strong team for the 2007 World Cup,” he said at a seminar.

“But yes, when I met the players individually in Lahore and Karachi, I got the distinct impression that cohesion and spirit were missing in the team after the one-day series,” Shaharyar said.

The PCB chief, however, spoke in defence of captain Inzamam-ul Haq and coach Javed Miandad. “Inzamam is the best man for captaincy at present. I think we fought brilliantly in the one-day series but for some reasons we fell away in the Test matches and it all went wrong in the final Test.

“In contrast, India was a more united and combined side. They are lucky to have a core of experienced and quality professionals in the team who perform consistently and guide the youngsters. So their victory was not a big surprise in a way,” he said.

But Shaharyar said the one big positive had been that “we have decided that in future only that player who is willing to perform for the team and not himself…. Someone who puts his team before everything else, will be picked.”