We can always bet that Pakistan cricket will never be short of controversies. The disturbance created by Younis Khan’s decision to relinquish the controls of leadership for the sake of “taking time off from the game” is simply too hard to incorporate at a point in time when the national team is board upon an assignment which is going to be a tough test of its nature in the coming months.

It is unfortunate that Younis has to give in to the player-power politics that has been one of the reasons why Pakistan cricket is tarnished for its inconsistency and unpredictability. Critics are going to have a field day until the dust settles over the latest controversy.

Ijaz Butt, chairman PCB announced Mohammad Yousuf as the successor to Younis in an abrupt statement on Wednesday for the New Zealand Tests. He also remarked that the cricket board had no objection to Younis asking to be rested from the New Zealand tour. But the PCB chief was unwilling to admit that Pakistan cricket is facing serious crisis.

The insurrection against captaincy has happened on several occasions in the past and the current scenario appears to be no different as like in the past there appears to be no strict team management to curtail this indiscipline. Javed Miandad had to abandon the job shortly after the Australian tour in 1981-82 when almost the entire squad went against their young skipper. Some 11 years later Miandad was again forced to resign which concluded in Wasim Akram becoming Pakistan captain. Wasim also surrendered to the spiteful player-power politics.

Younis was never really allowed to settle down into the job by a group of players. The terrible batting display in the last ODI against the Kiwis in Abu Dhabi this week was a clear indication that annoyed group of players had only one agenda to make sure Younis was shown the door by player-power politics.

The PCB’s decision to appoint Yousuf as captain is not only swift but also debatable because he was the same man who the Ex-PCB chief Dr Nasim Ashraf disregarded in the aftermath of Inzamam-ul-Haq’s retirement following the shameful first-round exit from the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. Yousuf was disappointed by Shoaib Malik’s appointment as Pakistan captain and his subsequent exclusion from the squad for the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa opted to join the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL). He ultimately join the ICL a year ago while publicly mentioning that he was not prepared to play under Malik’s captaincy. It was only after the PCB granted reprieve to the ICL players that Yousuf was able to walk back into the squad for the tour of Sri Lanka last June.

This evil curse of player-power will apparently be playing on Yousaf’s mind as well. Despite his vast experience in the game he had seen many ups and downs in his careers. He is still considered as one of
the finest batsmen produced by Pakistan. In other context, Yousaf is considered as most lethargic fielder in the team. It is of more worth that the most lethargic player will lead the national team. His deputy Kamran Akmal is a man who is known for making crucial mistakes that resulted in Pakistan’s defeats.

There is no guarantee that Yousaf will continue to lead Pakistan if the results of New Zealand Tests are not in favour of Pakistan. It is also obvious that the PCB would fall back on Younis given the swiftness of Ijaz Butt’s actions naming Yousuf as his successor. In the given scenario, yet another captain is likely to emerge on the surface for the Australia tour which follows immediately after the NZ series. The name of Misbah-ul-Haq can not ne ruled out in this context.

Tags: cricket politics, pakistan team conflicts, PCB problems, player power politics, younas khan captaicy conflict, yousaf as new captain

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 11:34 am and is filed under Disputes and Problems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.