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Pak players asked to stay away from press

Dr Zafar Altaf, the Pakistan team manager, has taken a policy decision that except himself or captain Wasim Akram, none of the other team members would be allowed to speak to the press during the World Cup.

It is learnt that Altaf ordered the ban immediately after the stories about ball tampering and match-fixing were carried by some newspapers in England. The situation now is such that even Akram does not address the post-match conferences or gives pre-match interviews without first discussing matters with the team manager, an experienced cricket administrator, who remains skeptical that sooner or later the English media will try to destablise the team with accusations. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has sent over Nadir Chaudhri as media manager, but even he has confined himself to communicating with Pakistani journalists and appears to be prepared for problems from the English media. Thankfully, Zafar and Wasim have been easily accessible to the Pakistani journalists and the manager has made it a point to provide them with immediate information relating to the team affairs.