Afridi was sacked for his media leaks on "internal matters"

Shahid Afridi was sacked as One-Day International (ODI) skipper because he repeatedly revealed the team's "internal matters" to the media, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials have said.

Afridi had been leading the Twenty20 and ODI sides since early 2010 before the PCB recently removed him as one-day captain for the forthcoming series against Ireland.

"There were a number of factors involved in [PCB chief] Ijaz [Butt] deciding to remove Afridi as captain, but the main reason was his refusal to listen to board warnings about repeatedly going to the media with internal matters," the Daily Times quoted an official source, as saying.

"Ijaz and other officials in the board were not happy at inside information of the team and about details of discussions held with Afridi being published in the media from time to time," he added.

Even before the 2011 World Cup, Butt was not very keen on having Afridi lead the team after a number of incidents, therefore the announcement of the captain for the tournament was delayed, the source said.

He recalled that in a meeting before the World Cup, Butt had told Afridi to refrain from going to the media on confidential matters.

"In one particular incident, Afridi was called to a meeting by Ijaz, in which he discussed an issue with Afridi, about which no one had knowledge except the two and the chief operating officer," the source said.

"Th next day when the issue was highlighted in the media, Ijaz had no doubt left who was behind the leakage as only Afridi didn't know that the information given to him on the issue was incorrect," he added.

The source noted that Ijaz was also unhappy that the details about his discussion with Afridi on his differences with head coach Waqar Younis on selection matters, were also published in the media the next day.

Ijaz had told Afridi that he would sort out things after the end of the Caribbean tour, but that he should refrain from speaking in the media on the issue again, said the source.

"That is why Ijaz reacted so strongly and removed Afridi as captain. The PCB chief is clear in his mind that he will not allow any player to dictate terms to the board or violate the code of conduct," he added.