KARACHI, April 28: In a bid to get rid of the ‘Inzamam culture’ in the national team, Pakistan's cricket authorities have stripped the new captain of powers to have a final say or exercise the veto power in the selection of a touring squad or playing eleven, well informed sources said on Saturday.

The sources in the board confirmed that now the selection committee would have the final say in the selection of a touring squad and the playing eleven.

“In the past when Inzamam was captain the selectors could give him their input and views on selection matters but he (Inzamam) had the final say and veto power in these matters,” sources in the PCB disclosed.

The board's ad hoc committee, while approving the appointment of Shoaib Malik as captain two weeks ago, decided that the team should be rid of ‘Inzamam culture’ as it had created a lot of problems and headaches for everyone including the selectors.

“The committee also felt that it had led to Inzamam gaining unbridled powers in the team and, with Wasim Bari’s extremely weak presence as chief selector, a number of blunders in selection matters led to the World Cup debacle,” he said.

The source disclosed that the committee had also reached a consensus that Inzamam should no longer be entertained even as a Test player although he has himself outlined his desire to continue playing in the Test team after retiring from One-day Internationals and stepping down as captain.

“The main reason for shifting the balance of power from the captain to the selectors is that some board officials believe Inzamam will try to use his influence on young Malik and with a group of players still playing loyal to him, may end up calling the shots. So this could also be termed as a pre-emptive measure,” the source opined.

He said in future the selectors will sit with the captain, coach, manager and vice-captain while selecting a full squad or a playing eleven but their decision would be final.

“Which means that the board has given the selectors complete powers to override any move by Malik to draft Inzamam into the Test side,” the source said.

The source disclosed that the board had also taken note of the fact that senior batsman and vice-captain Younis Khan had developed a mindset to stay away from the captaincy and was even pondering leaving one-day cricket because of the non-cooperative attitude of a group of players towards him.

Younis earlier this month not only refused the captaincy offered to him but also turned down a chance to fly directly to Abu Dhabi next month and play in the three-match one-day series against Sri Lanka. Younis told the selectors he was more comfortable playing for Yorkshire in the English county championship at the moment.

“The board realizes that there are other reasons for Younis wanting to distance himself from the team at the moment. They are also aware how a group of players — loyal to Inzamam —had ganged up against Younis when he captained Pakistan in the Champions Trophy last year, refusing to even speak to the Peshawar-born batsman,” the source said.

The source added that the board was keen on former captain Imran Khan — a great supporter of Younis — to speak to him and make him change his mind on the captaincy.

“But Imran refused point blank, saying he was upset with the way Younis had surrendered and he would not speak to him on this topic at all.”

Critics of the game feel that the real test for the board and selectors would arrive when South Africa tours Pakistan from Sept 25. That is when the board would know if it has been successful in clearing the team of ‘Inzamam culture’ or not.