Mohammad Yousuf & Younas Khan suspended not banned

The Pakistan Cricket Board has barred former captains Mohammad Yousuf and Younas Khan from the national team until further notice for behavior they say contributed to Pakistan's poor performance on its recent tour of Australia.

The PCB on Wednesday also imposed one-year bans on Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved after implementing the recommendations of an inquiry committee formed to evaluate Pakistan's dismal performance against Australia in December and January.

PCB's legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi told media in Pakistan, "Younis and Yousuf both cannot represent Pakistan in any international game till further notice, but they can play in domestic cricket".

According to a PCB spokes person, Yousuf and Younas both were involved in backbiting while on Australian tour which resulted in bringing down the whole team. Their attitude has a trickle down effect which is a bad influence for the whole team.

Malik and Naved were also fined Rs 2 million, wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal was handed a fine of Rs 3 million and Umar Akmal, younger brother of Kamran, was fined Rs 2 million. Shahid Afridi was fined Rs 3 million for ball tampering during the one-day series against Australia. Afridi and both Akmal brothers will be on probation of six months during which their conduct will be strictly monitored, the PCB said in a statement.

The inquiry committee was comprised of PCB chief operating officer Wasim Bari, board member Wazir Ali Khoja, director of cricket operations Zakir Khan, team manager Yawar Saeed and Taffazul Rizvi.

The players who were handed suspensions and fines appeared before the committee while other team officials including coach Intikhab Alam, assistant coach Aaqib Javed, the then manager Abdul Raqeeb, physiotherapist Faisal Hayat and analyst Mohammad Talha were also interviewed. All the recommendations of the inquiry committee were unanimous.

The committee also looked into manager and coaches reports of Pakistan's tour last year to the United Arab Emirates for ODI series against New Zealand, its test series in New Zealand and the disastrous tour of Australia where the team was routed 3-0 in the test series and 5-0 in the ODI series.

The penalties were the largest handed out in almost 10 years, since Justice Qayyum's report on match-fixing in 2000 when Salim Malik and Ata-ur-Rehman were handed life bans and several players including Wasim Akram and now national coach Waqar Younis were fined.

Former Pakistan test captain Ramiz Raja said the national team needed certain direction on discipline but felt barring players from international competition was extreme. Former test captain Inzamam-ul-Haq questioned the formation of the committee and described the banning of Yousuf and Younas as the "wrong decision". Former test fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz welcomed the PCB's decision.