The father of Irfan Karim, the Kenyan wicketkeeper, is wondering why the Kenya captain, Collins Obuya, got away with only two-match suspension for slapping his 21-year-old son.
by BIPIN DANI
Aasif Karim, who has also captained the national team, said, “If Harbhajan Singh was banned for the entire Indian Premier League season (for slapping Sreesanth), the punishment our captain got is very light.
“He has been banned for only two matches and these two matches are friendly fixtures.
‘My son immediately telephoned me from Colombo when the team was preparing to return to Kenya”, he added. “I had advised him to report the incident to the board”.
According to the sources in Kenya, the trouble started the moment the wicketkeeper joined the team in Sri Lanka. Irfan Karim has been playing for one of the universities team in England from where he directly joined with the team members in Colombo.
Collins Obuya’s brother, Kennedy, is also a national selector and the pair wanted their other brother David in the team at the expense of Karim. Their selection was rejected by the national board sparking friction a a well-placed source in Kenya suggests.
“The duty of the captain is to bind the team and Irfan Karim had merely asked his captain to earn the respect rather than lose the respect and that’s how the trouble started”, the source added. “The team management wanted to wrap up the issue under carpet but Karim didn’t budge and that’s how the incident got public eye”.
“The Kenyan team is struggling to qualify for the World Cup and therefore Obuya got a lighter sentence”, the source added.
The Kenyan police are waiting to see if the Karim family wish the case to be filed against Collins Obuya.
The Kenyan team is arriving in UAE to play qualifying matches for the World Cup. In a bid to be qualified, the selectors recently recalled 42-year-old Steve Tikolo in the team.
Bipin Dani
He has toured UAE, Sri Lanka, Morocco and Malaysia, to name a few, and contributes to a large number of newspapers in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
His twitter bio reads: Eat cricket stories, drink cricket stories, sleep cricket stories.
Latest posts by Bipin Dani (see all)
- BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya should globalise game and revive Asian Cricket Council - March 5, 2015
- “I invented DRS, it should be named after me” says Sri Lanka lawyer - March 4, 2015
- Saeed Ajmal signs to play in England for Worcestershire - February 26, 2015
