Mohammad Yousuf’s recall causes confusion, Salman Butt and Waqar Younis puzzled
Pakistan’s veteran star batsman Mohammad Yousuf’s recall in Pakistan’s squad has created a bit of confusion in the touring party. Just after Pakistan lost its first test match in a four test match series against England, PCB released a press conference stating that Mohammad Yousuf will be sent to England following Pakistan’s batting collapse. Media reports suggested that PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt single-handedly made the decision, bypassing the authority of the tour’s selection committee. The decision has also raised questions over the impact on the team with Yousuf’s inclusion in the squad following his axing and subsequent retirement.
Pakistan’s batting lineup completely collapsed in the second innings of the first test match, when it only managed to score 80 runs. This was Pakistan’s second biggest defeat in term of runs. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128 denied that it was his decision to recall Mohammad Yousuf. He also denied media reports that were suggesting that Butt imposed Yousuf on a squad that was reluctant to accept him.
The decision made headlines because minutes before the PCB’s press release, captain Salman Butt and Coach Waqar Younis had shown their desire to continue with young Umar Amin, Azhar Ali and Umar Akmal. Some media sources have suggested that the captain and coach only came to know about this decision via television and were kept completely out of loop. Ijaz Butt however insisted that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Salman-c88163 took over the captaincy and the matter was deferred. We discussed it and the tour selection committee made an official request for Yousuf which was then approved by the selection committee."
Mohammad Yousuf was one of the seven players, who received heavy fines and bans from the PCB following Pakistan’s disastrous tour to Australia. Yousuf was the only player who opted to retire from international cricket while the rest of the six players decided to appeal against the penalties. Most of the bans and fines were reversed following apologies from cricketers. Shoaib Malik almost made an immediate comeback after he was given a clean chit form the appeal tribunal and the PCB. Younis Khan is still stuck in a procedural limbo and is not given a clearance certificate by the PCB. Yousuf’s case was different since he did not make any appeals and is yet to make a comeback. A PCB representative explained the confusion and said that Mohammad Yousuf was never banned, he admitted his fault and it was the board’s discretion to consider him. "There was no ban on Yousuf ever, that was only a term used by the media," Tafazzul Rizvi, the board's legal advisor and part of the Australian tour inquiry committee, told. “We simply said he would not be picked by the board until at a time of their own choosing. It was the media that called it a ban. It was always left to the discretion of the PCB to select him again and they have used that now to pick him. Yousuf, by not appealing, accepted the verdict and now is back.”
PCB chairman claimed that Yousuf’s retirement was the main hurdle for his comeback in the national squad. Once he decided that he is ready to come out of retirement, the board considered him after the tour selection committee made a formal request for Yousuf. "Once he had retired that was the main obstacle as far as we were considered and it was up to us whether we selected him again or not," he said. "Once he confirmed to us that his retirement has been taken back we selected him."
Only time will tell what the fall out of this decision will have on the team since Salman Butt and Coach Waqar Younis wanted to give the youngsters a longer run. Moreover, Mohammad Yousuf publicly criticised Salman Butt on their tour to Australia by labelling him a “lazy runner”. Yousuf also has a long-running dispute with Shoaib Malik. The veteran’s batting form is another cause of worry since he has not played any competitive cricket since Pakistan’s last tour to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746.
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