Sacked team manager Zaheer Abbas claims regular captain Inzamamul Haq has lost the confidence of officials in Pakistan cricket following The Oval debacle.

Abbas told BBC Radio Five Live that the refusal to play on the fourth day of the Test was Inzamam's own choice.

He said: "Pakistan's management is not happy with Inzamam at the moment.

"I requested him to go into the field at The Oval, chairman Shaharyar Khan requested also, and a few members of the cricket team, but he refused."

Shaharyar resigned from his post on Friday night, and the following day Younis Khan was named Pakistan's captain for the ICC Champions Trophy with Inzamam serving a four-match ban.

The International Cricket Council

had served the suspension on him for bringing the game into disrepute at The Oval after the on-field umpires had alleged the ball had been tampered with.

But only last Thursday, Younis had said he refused to be a "dummy" captain, and for two days the captaincy passed to Mohammad Yousuf.

Abbas said Younis's had had a difficult relationship with Shaharyar since the England tour.

"Once when Shaharyar was in his room, Younis wanted to meet him. He had to wait 15 minutes to go and talk to him.

"A few other things cropped up and all of a sudden he said: 'I don't want to become a puppet captain of the Pakistan team' -- and that's why he resigned.

"The ICC Champions Trophy was upon us, an important tour, and he wanted to set out the problems he was facing at that time.

"He felt that the chairman was not giving him enough time so decided to resign."

On the separate issue of Inzamam's actions at The Oval on August 20, Abbas said: "After having protested we should have gone into the field and started playing.

"But Inzamam said to me 'I don't want to go in the field; if the boys want to go in the field then they can'.

"We know the captain didn't listen to us at that point in time. Loads of people were there waiting for us to go and show our ability to them and see us playing."

Asked if it was likely that Inzamam may be asked to step down as captain when he returns from his ban, Abbas replied: "It looks like it but I'm not sure."

Former star batsman Abbas was sacked on September 13 by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after just six months in the role.

The PCB initially said it was "resting him" but has made no indication that he will be given the job back.