Some not comfortable about playing with Aamir: PCB chief

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan has revealed that some players in the national team are not keen on playing alongside banned pacer Mohammad Aamir again.

In an interview to a private television channel, Shaharyar said, "What the former players are saying about allowing him to return to international cricket holds weight and we have got murmurings from the dressing room as well that some players are not comfortable about playing with him again."

The PCB chief said it was a wrong impression that the board wanted to rush Aamir back into the national team.

"Our point is clear... no decision has been taken on allowing him back into the national team. At the moment we are following a process of the International Cricket Council to allow him back into domestic cricket before his ban ends as per the revised anti-corruption code," he said.

Shaharyar insisted it has to be first seen if the ICC even cleares Aamir to resume playing domestic cricket as his ban officially ends only in August, 2015.

"We don't want to rush things in this case and we will first see what happens if he gets permission to resume playing domestic cricket," he pointed out.

Aamir, along with Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, was banned for a minimum of five years by an anti-corruption tribunal of the ICC in early 2011 for spot-fixing during a Test in England.

Shaharyar, meanwhile, confirmed that senior bureaucrat Naveed Akram Cheema was in line to be appointed manager of the national team for next year's World Cup.

Cheema, who is presently posted as Chief Secretary Punjab, has managed the side in the past on several tours.

"Yes, Naveed Akram Cheema is a front runner, but the problem is that the Punjab government is not keen to release him for the assignment at the moment. He has asked for some time to speak to his superiors," informed Shaharyar.

"If he is released from his present position, Cheema is a frontrunner to manage the team in the World Cup."

Former Test captain Moin Khan is presently manager and chief selector of the national team.

The Board of Governors of the PCB is reportedly not happy with the current scenario, where some people are holding dual positions in the board, foremost being Moin Khan.

Earlier, Shaharyar had said that any decision on whether to retain Moin as manager would be taken only after the ongoing series against New Zealand.

Image: Mohammad Aamir

Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images