KARACHI: Experienced batsman Younis Khan, while expressing his resentment at being overlooked for the upcoming ODI series against Australia, has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) not to humiliate senior players.

In a rare outburst here on Friday, the seasoned Test batsman lamented the treatment meted out to him by the national selectors and urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) not to humiliate senior players.

Talking to reporters at the National Stadium shortly after his Abbottabad Falcons lost to Lahore Lions in the national T20 Cup, the former Pakistan captain slammed the selectors for his exclusion from the ODI squad and made it crystal clear that he still wants to don Pakistan colours in the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Laments poor treatment with senior players

“How can they [selectors] treat a senior player like this? I want to play in the World Cup. How can they say players like me have no future? I ask you: who has a future then? If they think I’m not needed then I have no choice left but to shoot myself,” Younis, otherwise a highly calm and composed figure, expressed in a dejected tone.

“Even at this age [Younis will be 37 on Nov 29] I still wake up at seven in the morning and show commitment. If people start believing that we are a surplus in the eyes of the selectors. How many players commit themselves to domestic cricket when they are not playing for Pakistan?

“If that is the case then I shouldn’t be playing any cricket at all,” the veteran right-handed batsman said in a passionate voice.

“Some people start grumbling why I laugh so much. I really laugh and ask myself why I am playing, how I am playing, what happens to players like me, when I came back after 17-18 months,” he added.

Younis, who was included in the ODI squad for the recently concluded tour to Sri Lanka at the behest of then PCB chairman Najam Sethi, made it clear that he played the game throughout his career in a dignified manner and stressed that he always supported young players.

“If the selectors claim that players like me are not in their future plans then I must consider not playing and leave Pakistan. I want to clear one thing that whenever I played I played with respect,” he said with conviction.

“Some people are upset over the fact that I don’t interact with the media like other players do and express my feelings. Perhaps I’m the only player who believes in promoting youngsters.

“I am even willing to sacrifice myself for younger players. On this day I am saying with conviction that I can wait until the World Cup; if the selectors don’t want to pick me then don’t select me for ODIs or even Test matches. I am ready to sacrifice my career for five months but after that if, if the team is not settled then will these very people, who are calling the shots, go?” he wondered.

“If the selectors think that they are planning for the future and if the players they have picked are the future and I’m not, then is there no future of Pakistan’s Test cricket as well. Don’t select me even for the Tests because I’m willing to sacrifice my future for the sake of others,” Younis announced.

“Will then we all shout that we are in the process of rebuilding the team and if we want to rebuild then why we waited for four years [since 2011 World Cup] to begin this exercise. Why are we rebuilding [the team] in the last three, four months [to the 2015 World Cup] only?

“I may be harsh on the media since I don’t make friends in the media, but may be I have disappointed a lot of them with my conduct. Maybe I made mistakes and have been standing alone. I should have made friends but I didn’t,” expressed Younis who in fact is generally known for his camaraderie in cricketing circles.

“I am not the one to cry. I remember great Javed Miandad leaving this stadium crying before the 1996 World Cup, the same media was behind him.

“I ask you, if I deserve, be it an ODI or a Test match, I should be playing. I never phone the selectors, and don’t take advice from them. In the 2009 World Twenty20, I stood alone to handle the media when allegations against Pakistan were labelled about ball-tampering and match-fixing. After we won against New Zealand, [Daniel] Vettori accused us of ball tampering.

“If that was my fault then I will advise the youngsters not to play for Pakistan, or even don’t think of playing for Pakistan. In the past we have seen great players like Mohammad Yousuf, Miandad and Inzamam-ul-Haq getting humiliated and insulted,” Younis lamented.

“Was it my fault when Bangladesh played here in 2003 and I asked [Pakistan captain] Rashid Latif to try out youngsters even though I then was a young player myself? Is this my fault that youngsters come to me instead of approaching the coach for advice?”

Younis regretted there had been no culture in Pakistan cricket of giving players decent farewell.

“Tell me how Waqar Younis left, how Wasim Akram left how Moin Khan left? Did they retire on their terms? No. I have played cricket with respect. I am not against the board because Pakistan has given me respect and if I had not played for Pakistan I would have been a common man. Pakistan gave me respect and I grateful for it.

“But I say again if I’m good enough to be playing one-day cricket then a proper chance should be afforded to me. If the selectors thought picking for the Sri Lanka series was a mistake then either they were wrong then or now,” Younis concluded.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2014