PCB to intervene as Afridi-Miandad spat heats up

Afridi has decided to take legal action against Miandad after the latter levelled allegations of match fixing.

Disappointed by the ugly tiff between Shahid Afridi and Javed Miandad, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is likely to take measures to stop former cricketers from levelling match-fixing allegations against each other to settle `personal scores`.

A verbal altercation has been going on between Afridi and Miandad after both of them accused each other of being 'money-centric'.

- Afridi-Miandad in ugly war of words

Afridi has decided to take legal action against the legendary batsman after the latter levelled allegations of match fixing against the former T20I captain.

Commenting on the issue, a PCB official insisted that such accusations are detrimental to country's cricket and, therefore, it has to be resolved immediately.

"Miandad is not a part of the PCB, while Afridi is in the twilight of his career. So, unlike the Abdul Razzaq-Mohammad Hafeez spat of 2012 when the board played the mediator, we can do very little to patch things up between these two," the PCB official was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune.

"However, as the game's governing body in the country, the board may come up with a plan to stop cricketers accusing each other of match-fixing to settle personal scores. Such accusations are detrimental to country's cricket and need to be rooted out once and for all," he added.

The official hinted that the cricket board would enforce a rule that would bind players to prove their allegation or face action, keeping in mind the pros and cons of the plan with the legal team.

Afridi, who was supposed to serve a legal notice to Miandad on Thursday, later scrapped his plan after getting assurances that the former coach would withdraw the match-fixing allegations against him.

"Miandad has assured Afridi that he will retract his match-fixing allegation on some platform. Only after that, Afridi abandoned his planned legal battle against the great batsman," a source said.

Hitting back over legendary batsman Miandad's comments that the former T20 skipper "wanted the farewell game only for money", Afridi had earlier said that money has always been an issue for the former, which separated him from World Cup winning captain Imran Khan.

The 59-year-old, who was the part of the 1992 World Cup winning eleven, then accused Afridi of match-fixing.