ISLAMABAD (AP) — World Cup captain Shahid Afridi will not lead Pakistan in future, Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ijaz Butt said yesterday.

Butt reiterated to Geo Super television that it was his constitutional right to appoint the captain before every single series, even though last week the ICC recommended to the PCB that Butt lose the privilege to improve the team.

“As far as I am concerned he is not a captain material for the PCB anymore,” Butt said. “(As a player) he has done well in the past, he’s been a good cricketer for Pakistan, there’s no doubt about it.”

Afridi, one of Pakistan’s greatest limited-overs players, was dumped as captain by Butt in May after beating West Indies in the Caribbean. That prompted his international retirement and an outburst against Butt and the PCB for making captaincy an issue this year.

Afridi took the PCB to court to re-issue his clearance to play overseas, and dropped the case after agreeing to meet Butt, plead guilty to misconduct and a fine of 4.5 million rupees ($52,000). Afridi got his clearance and is representing Hampshire in the English county Twenty20 championship.

Butt said a former provincial governor and former prime minister rang him to urge clearance be given to Afridi, but he said he did not feel pressured.

“Governor Sindh rang up, talked to me for one hour… Nawaz Sharif rang me,” Butt said.