The former Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq has accused the Pakistan Cricket Board of splitting the national team by not naming the captain of the World Cup squad.
The PCB last week announced its 15-man squad for the tournament, which gets under way on 19 February, but failed to nominate a leader, a move which has sparked speculation of a race for the role between Shahid Afridi and Misbah-ul-Haq.
Afridi is currently leading Pakistan in the six-match one-day series in New Zealand, while Misbah, who captained the side to a 1-0 Test series victory against the same opponents, remains Afridi's deputy for the shorter format. With Pakistan crashing to a massive nine-wicket defeat in the opening one-day match on Saturday, Afridi is under pressure to deliver and win the confidence of the board.
The uncertainty over the captaincy has led to several former captains, including Wasim Akram and the present national coach, Waqar Younis, criticising the board. Now Inzamam, who led the team in Pakistan's last two World Cup campaigns, has offered similar sentiments.
Inzamam, a veteran of 120 Tests and 378 ODIs, also said he did not expect the team to fare any better than their predecessors did in 2003 and 2007, where they crashed out of the tournament in the group stages on both the occasions.
"By creating a captaincy crisis, the board has split the team into Afridi and Misbah groups," Inzamam told Pakistan's Urdu daily Jang. "I don't understand why such things happen only with Pakistan. The PCB has failed miserably in controlling the situation. If the team's performance in the World Cup is not up to the scratch, once again the players will be made scapegoats."
Opposing any change of guard at this stage, the batsman, who was instrumental in Pakistan's successful World Cup campaign in 1992, said: "If they want to try out Misbah, they should have given him more time. But any change at this stage would lead to disastrous consequences. The players are already divided into Misbah and Afridi groups. The present scenario reminds me of the 2003 World Cup, when despite Waqar being the captain, suggestions were being made to bring back Wasim Akram."
Inzamam also claimed that the World Cup squad had been selected without consulting either the coach or the likely captain. "If the team performs badly in the tournament, the captain would decline to own responsibility saying he was not consulted while selecting the team. The differences in the team just before such an important tournament will have its effect on the team," he added.