A controversial career gets a push on: Mohammad Yousuf
Mohammad Yousuf’s return to international cricket has sparked a lot of debate amongst those who are remotely connected with Pakistan cricket. Former players have slammed the move in unison, whereas some, like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Inzamam-ul-Haq-c64383, have said that the same should have happened much earlier.
However, for the man in question, Yousuf, this is not the first time that he has been in the shadows of controversy. And this is also not the first time that he has decided to make a comeback after having left the arena in a huff.
Yousuf, who was originally named Yousuf Youhana and had become the first ever Christian to captain the Pakistani side, converted to Islam in 2005. His first major tryst with controversy came in the year 2007, when an ageing Yousuf was not picked by the Pakistani selectors for the ICC World T20 in 2007 to be played in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757.
T20 was in its nascent stage and was said to be a game for the youngsters and given Yousuf’s inability to field well or score quickly, the decision to drop him from the T20 cricket was taken. In response to this decision, Yousuf resigned from the Pakistani team and signed up for the Indian Cricket League, a rebel cricket league to those in mainstream cricket. He was subsequently banned by the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 Cricket Board for playing in the rebel league.
He played for the ICL for a tournament, before the PCB cajoled him into returning to playing for Pakistan. He was also promised a berth in the lucrative Indian Premier League, but the ICL decided to sue Yousuf for breaking the contract. This pending court case meant that none of the IPL teams were prepared to bid for him and he failed to play in the IPL.
With the ICL continuing to threaten him into playing for their tournament and not leave them in a lurch, Yousuf’s mentor Inzamam coaxed him into finishing off his contract. Once again, he retired from international cricket and returned to the ICL to play for them.
The ICL was then hit by the recession and decided to grant amnesty to all its players, which meant that all the players on their payroll were allowed to dissolve the contract and go back to playing international cricket. Yousuf returned back to playing for Pakistan again, and was immediately called back to the international side. More surprise awaited him and the Pakistani fans, when he was named the captain of the Pakistani side after the surprise resignation of Younis Khan, who had alleged that the senior team-members were against him.
Yousuf assumed the mantle of captaincy, but the 2010 tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 messed it up further for the captain. The Pakistani side not only lost all the three Tests, five ODIs and one T20I, but there were also reports of in-fighting, squabbles and disharmony within the team. Immediately after returning from Australia, Yousuf and another former captain Shoaib Malik were involved in pointing their fingers at each other in the public. They accused each other of many things including creating a rift in the side.
The PCB set up an enquiry commission to probe into the losses on the Australian tour, and after the probe was completed, announced that it had banned Yousuf and Younis indefinitely. The Board later announced that the indefinite ban does not mean that Yousuf could not appeal and overturn the ban.
However, Yousuf decided to retire from the game once again, and did not appeal against the ban. A couple of months later, the PCB decided to exonerate all the players fined or banned after the probe if they appealed against the judgement, but Yousuf did not appeal. The PCB still decided to overturn his ban and invited him to play international cricket again. Yousuf claimed that he would play international cricket for Pakistan only if the PCB asked him with respect. Apparently, that is exactly what they have done.
Tags: