LONDON: He may be a proven ball-muncher and pitch scuffer but Shahid Afridi is now charged with leading Pakistan out of the mire of a corruption probe and to victory in one-day series against England.
Last month, Afridi resigned the Test captaincy -- having returned for only one match after a four-year absence from the five-day format -- following Pakistan`s 150-run defeat by Australia at Lord`s.
He now returns to a team smarting from an even bigger Lord`s loss by an innings and 225 runs -- Pakistan`s heaviest Test defeat of all-time -- which saw England to a 3-1 win in a four-match series.
But even the scale of that reverse has been overshadowed by allegations in Britain`s News of the World.
The Sunday tabloid claimed it paid 150,000 pounds (230,000 dollars, 185,000 euros) to a middle man in return for details about the timing of three Pakistan no-balls against England in the fourth Test at Lord`s.
The report alleged Pakistan seamers Mohammad Aamer - the tourists` man of the series - and Mohammad Asif delivered the blatant no-balls at the exact points in the match agreed with the alleged fixer.
News of the World also alleged that Salman Butt, Afridi`s successor as Test captain, was implicated in the no-ball probe.
Although a team game, several aspects of cricket -- such as bowling no-balls -- are essentially dependent upon one player and that make it particularly susceptible to so-called `spot-fixing` where unscrupulous gamblers can rig the result of one incident rather than the more complicated business of `fixing` a whole match.
Even when he stood down as Test skipper, Afridi made it clear he wanted to lead the one-day side, whom he captained to victory in last year`s World Twenty20 in England at next year`s World Cup in the sub-continent.
In the immediate aftermath of their crushing Test loss at Lord`s, there were doubts as to whether Pakistan`s two Twenty20 internationals and five one-dayers against England, which start in Cardiff this coming Sunday, would go ahead.
But Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed said: "As far as I`m concerned the one-day series is still on.
"We are moving to the west country and we will play all the one-dayers and all the T20s."
Saeed, speaking at a Lord`s news conference alongside Butt, told reporters: "As far as the allegations are concerned, I would still call them allegations.
"It`s not really for me within 24 hours to pass a judgment on whether they are true or not."
Saeed also confirmed Butt, Aamer and Asif had their mobile telephones taken away by police on Saturday after being spoken to about the allegations.
"The three gentlemen have had their phones confiscated."
Butt though was in defiant mood.
The 25-year-old batsman pointed out how under his leadership Pakistan had bounced back to draw 1-1 against Australia and beaten England at The Oval by four wickets in the third Test .
"Pakistan has won a Test match against Australia for the first time in 15 years and against England for the first time in nine years," Butt said.
"Does that make me resign from this current situation?"
Butt was invited several times to say if the allegations were untrue but he replied: "They include quite a few people and they are still ongoing and we will see what happens."
Afridi, 30 is no stranger to controversy himself, having been one of seven players either banned or fined by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) following the team`s winless tour of Australia earlier this year where he was seen biting the ball during a one-day match.
And during England last`s tour of Pakistan, in 2005/06, Afridi deliberately scuffed up the pitch in Faisalabad.
Pakistan`s next match is a tour game against western county Somerset in Taunton on Thursday.
BDST: 1323HRS, August 30, 2010
