Perform or perish, PCB tells Malik

In a meeting of PCB's International Cricket Committee in Lahore, Malik was given a tongue lashing by senior officials of the Board.

Under-fire Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has been issued a stern warning by his Cricket Board to either show results in the next few series or face the axe.

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In a meeting of PCB's International Cricket Committee in Lahore, Malik was given a tongue lashing by senior officials of the Board over his performance as captain and the failure of the team to reach the Asia Cup final here this month.

An eye witness who attended the meeting said there was a heated exchange of words between Malik and the selectors.

"The captain, coach and manager disagreed on some issues and Malik was rebuked by some governing body members including Munir Hafeez, Ejaz Butt, Intikhab Alam and Shafqat Naghmi, the chief operating officer of the board," the witness said.

"Malik argued that the Board needed to transfer some of the powers of selection committee to him. He was not happy that the selection committee was authorised to pick the final playing eleven and not by the captain and coach," he added.

The witness revealed that some board members told Malik to stop shifting the blame to selectors and focus on strategising on the field.

"When someone asked Malik about the batting order and the debatable decisions on winning the toss in the Asia Cup, he said that if he changed the batting order some of the players didn't cooperate with him on the field," he said.

The eye witness claimed that one of the members then waded into Malik telling him that as captain he should be strong enough to handle such dissent.

"If I was the Chairman of the board I would have sacked you by now," a member was quoted by the eye witness as saying.

"Malik, coach Lawson and manager Talat Ali were told by selectors that they were supposed to produce results which had not been forthcoming," the witness said.