Fired team doctor for mishandling Malik injury: Sethi

Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board`s acting Chairman Najam Sethi has revealed that team doctor Riaz Ahmed was sacked for "mishandling" Shoaib Malik`s recent injury.

"We fired Dr Riaz Ahmed recently as team doctor for mishandling the injury case of Shoaib Malik...The decisions to bring in a foreign trainer were taken to provide the best people for our players," he said. Sethi also made several points, one of them being that there were no plans to change the national T20 or ODI captains and that no decision had been taken as yet on the next coaching panel of the team. Sethi also spoke out about the reasons for changing the team doctor and fitness trainer of the national team recently before the Sri Lanka series and bringing in a foreigner, Dale Naylor. Sethi also made it clear that while it was decided to have a local coach for the national team when Dav Whatmore`s contract expires in February but no decision has been taken as yet on any candidate. He also retorted to questions about changing the national Twenty20 and ODI captains and said such talk was just speculation. "We have taken no decision to change Muhammad Hafeez as the T20 captain presently as far as the captains are concerned it is a status quo," he said. "When the time comes we will see what to do," he added with reference to Hafeez`s captaincy.