Ex Pak captains blast Dravid's action

The former players believed that while the tense situation forced the Indians to appeal, Dravid should have been proactive and withdrawn it.

Pakistan's former Test captains were unanimous in declaring Rahul Dravid's appeal against Inzamam-ul-Haq for obstructing the field as against the spirit of the game but insisted that the Indian skipper was within the laws of the game.

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The stalwarts believed that while the tense situation of the match perhaps forced the Indians to appeal, Dravid should have shown more responsibility as captain and withdrawn it.

"Indian fielders appealed because the decision could have changed the match as India were losing after being beaten in the Karachi Test. Under different circumstances, India might not have appealed," former captain Hanif Mohammad said.

Inzamam became only the second Pakistan player to be declared out obstructing the field during the first one-day international at Peshawar.

A fuming Inzamam said after the match that he failed to understand the law and later criticised Rahul Dravid for playing against the spirit of the game.

When Inzamam was declared out, Pakistan were 289 for six while chasing 329 for victory.

"Spirit of the game is followed in normal course of the match. But in Peshawar, India took advantage of the situation," Hanif said.

"Inzamam should have been more careful with the pertaining law particularly after he was wrongly declared out in the second Test against England at Faisalabad."

Rashid Latif said Dravid's action reflected that he was a captain under pressure and tension.

"The bottomline is that the fielders appealed and the umpires, in accordance with the law, had to give Inzamam out. Dravid, being the captain, had more responsibility on his shoulders and a good gesture would have been if he had withdrawn the appeal and let the umpires to decide if they allow Inzamam to continue," Iqbal told.

Asif Iqbal, known as the 'Man of Crisis' because of his ability to score runs in crucial situations, insisted that Dravid should have realised that Inzamam was not trying to steal a single.

"In fact, Inzamam was trying to defend himself and not attempting a single. I am more interested to discuss what would have been the scenario in case of a tight situation when five runs were scored off the last over with last pair in.

"What would have happened them? I am sure there would have been complete chaos and situation might have gone out of control.

"Furthermore, what would have happened if an Indian captain had been declared out obstructing the field in a similar situation by a Pakistani fielder," Iqbal said.

Asif Iqbal, who skippered Pakistan on the 1979 tour of India, dismissed Rahul Dravid's contention that if his actions were against sportsmanship, the match officials would have taken action against him.

"No doubt Inzamam was out but Dravid should not have appealed and if he had appealed in the heat of the moment, he should have withdrawn it. Rahul seems to be under tremendous pressure and tension.

"Dravid has not exposed himself as a sensible captain. I remember Javed Miandad ran out Rodney Hogg in Australia but Mushtaq Mohammad, who was the captain, withdrew the appeal and called back Hogg.

"That's another issue that the umpires didn't allow the batsman to continue his innings but the point to be emphasised is that a captain's reflexes need to be sharp and quick.

"A sensible captain always steps-in to defuse the crisis, that's his job and that's what he is expected to do," Latif stressed.