Pakistan cricketers dodge fans, media

30.MAR.07

Pakistan’s cricket captain and six other players have left Lahore airport without speaking to the media, after returning from a traumatic World Cup.

Inzamam-ul-Haq and his teammates left through a cargo exit, dodging hundreds of waiting fans and many reporters.

The Pakistan team was humbled by Ireland and eliminated from the World Cup in the Caribbean.{{more}}

Just hours after the defeat, Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was murdered in a hotel in Jamaica’s capital, Kingston.

Police in Jamaica have said the 58-year-old coach was strangled, and a police investigation is under way.

“Nobody at this stage can be ruled out of the inquiry,” deputy police commissioner Mark Shields has told the BBC.

Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and players Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Rao Iftikhar, Rana Naved, Umar Gul and Imran Nazir slipped out of Lahore airport through the cargo terminal gate.

The players then drove off in waiting cars with relatives and friends, angering the waiting fans and the reporters.

“They should ban the team. They should ban every player,” one of the fans told the BBC.

“Why can’t they face us and the people,” Pakistani journalist Rizwan Ali told Reuters news agency.

However, four other Pakistani cricketers – who returned to Karachi earlier – faced the media and apologised for their team’s poor display. (BBC)