Pak cricket can ill-afford more controversies: Akmal

Lahore, May 26 (ANI): Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, who was recently surrounded in a match fixing controversy, has said that in the present scenario where foreign teams have refused to visit the country, Pakistan cricket can ill afford any more negative advertisements.

Akmal told Deutsche Welle Radio' Urdu Service, while pointing towards former coaches Intikhab Alam and Aaquib Javed, who had blamed him for deliberately under-performing during the winless Australia tour, that people should refrain from stirring controversies.

"I believe that in such a difficult situation when foreign teams are reluctant to visit Pakistan we should abstain from creating controversies in the larger interest of the game and the country," Akmal said.

"I am astonished by such allegations but I am under a contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and I hope that the board would take care of these allegations," he said while referring to recent allegations made against him by Alam and Javed.

Commenting on Shahid Afridi's appointment as both the one-day and Test captain, the swashbuckling keeper-batsman said players have gelled together under his leadership, and that he always motivates them to give their hundred percent on the field.

"Afridi is an aggressive captain who always keeps the boys motivated in the middle and I have fully enjoyed playing under him," said Akmal, who has played 48 Tests, 115 ODIs and 34 T20 internationals. (ANI)