Afridi blasts Hameed

Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi blasted Yasir Hameed as being mentally a teenager but the batsman insisted he was duped by a newspaper over betting scam claims which eclipsed the team's defeat to England.
One-day skipper Afridi tore into Test batsman Hameed, who claimed he had done nothing more than repeat the allegations of "spot-fixing" being faced by three Pakistan players.
The row overshadowed Pakistan's first international game since the scandal rocking the sport first erupted.
They were beaten by five wickets Sunday in the first of two Twenty20 fixtures against England at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.
Afridi said he was trying to lift his side's spirits ahead of Tuesday's second T20, and vowed to play his part in cleaning up Pakistan's reputation.
"We all know we've got to get to the bottom of this and we'll do anything as players, or management, commentators, umpires to eradicate this from the game. It's as simple as that," he said.
Britain's biggest-selling newspaper News of the World released footage of Hameed in a bar telling an undercover reporter that some Pakistan players were fixing "almost every match".
"They've been caught. Only the ones that get caught are branded crooks. They were doing it [fixing] in almost every match. God knows what they were up to. Scotland Yard was after them for ages," he was quoted as saying.
"It makes me angry because I'm playing my best and they are trying to lose."
Following the T20 defeat in the Welsh capital, Afridi said what he thought of 32-year-old Hameed.
"Mentally he is 15, 16," he said.
"We have known him for a long time and we can expect anything from him. He has been doing these type of things a lot of times."
Asked if Hameed was unreliable, he replied: "Yeah, the people know which type of character he is."
Hameed released an affidavit, read by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)'s lawyer outside the country's High Commission (embassy) in London.
The batsman said he believed he had been talking to a potential sponsor -- who turned out to be an undercover reporter.
Hameed said he was asked about the corruption allegations.
"As far as I recall, I only told him whatever I had already read in the newspapers about the matter."

Posted in: Pakistan