Peshawar Zalmi captain Daren Sammy has slammed rumours that implied that he has developed differences with the team owner Javed Afridi after he was rested for Monday’s game against Karachi Kings. Sammy asserted that no one can come between him and his ‘baby’.
Rumours of differences began to emerge after Sammy posted a cryptic tweet after he was rested for the game. Wahab Riaz captained the team in Sammy’s absence.
Following Sammy’s tweet, reports emerged that Sammy was upset with the decision to rest him. Zalmi had replaced Sammy with Carlos Brathwaite. The decision was allegedly taken after Sammy’s struggled for form and fitness because of which Zalmi have descended to the fifth position on the PSL 2020 points table.
The decision to replace Sammy, however, did not work as well as the management expected. Brathwaite managed to score only 8 runs and Peshawar lost the match.
Shoaib Akhtar, on the other hand, claimed that Sammy had a falling out with Afridi. Shoaib extended his support towards Sammy whom he termed a hero. Akhtar also commented that Shahid Afridi was also once part of the team.
However, last week, Sammy and Afridi were spotted cruising on the streets of Islamabad.
Later in the day (Tuesday), Zalmi head coach Mohammad Akram also held a media talk in Rawalpindi in which he refuted the resports and revealed that it was his decision to rest Sammy against Karachi, adding that Sammy, too, was in agreement that he needed rest.
The head coach explained that resting players is nothing new, also saying that Sammy was given a break to “work on his form and fitness”.
Meanwhile, Sammy has become the first international cricket player to receive the highest civilian award and honorary citizenship of Pakistan for his contribution to the development of cricket in the country.
President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi will confer both the citizenship and award, the ‘Nishane Pakistan’, on March 23.
