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| April 26, 2007 | Thursday | Rabi-us-Sani 08, 1428 |
Younis keeps PCB guessing about future
KARACHI, April 25: Pakistan's senior batsman, Younis Khan has given no clear reason to the national selectors for opting out of next month's one-day series against Sri Lanka.
Sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have confirmed that when chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed and Director Cricket Operations, Zakir Khan spoke to Younis on telephone two days ago, he simply told them that he didn't want to play for Pakistan at the moment.
"Younis is presently playing for Yorkshire in England and he simply said the selectors should let him be and not consider him for selection as he was enjoying playing for the English county," said a PCB official requesting anonymity.
He said that despite being assured of compensation and other facilities for making himself available for the Abu Dhabi series commencing May 9, Younis refused to change his stance.
The source said that Younis's attitude and lack of enthusiasm to play for Pakistan had left the board and selectors quite perplexed and they were trying to find out what had actually gone wrong. Younis, one of the top batsmen in the current side, had also turned down the captaincy offer earlier this month after Inzamam-ul-Haq had stepped down as captain and announced his retirement from One-day Internationals.
Younis publicly said he didn't want to captain the side as he was feeling disheartened and depressed by the way the people had treated him when he returned from the World Cup. He also said at the time that for him, self respect and his family were far more important than anything else and had insisted that he was considering retirement from the ODIs as he wanted to devote more time to his family.
Sources said the board was not ruling out the possibility that Younis's refusal might have something to do with him not feeling comfortable playing in the team alongside a certain group of players. "It is no secret that when Younis captained Pakistan in the Champions Trophy last year, a group of three or four players distanced themselves from the Peshawar-born player and made life difficult for him," said a seasoned cricket analyst. "That could be the reason that he is now avoiding to play for Pakistan, at least for the time being."
Former Pakistan captain and a close friend, Rashid Latif said he personally didn't agree with Younis not playing in Abu Dhabi next month.
"Whatever the reasons, but when it comes to the country he must play. I don't know why he has refused but maybe he has still not got over the disappointment and harrowig time the players had at the World Cup," said Rashid.
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