Mohammed Yousuf - The man behind all the troubles of Pakistan Cricket?
All seemed well when Younis Khan held aloft the T20 World Cup trophy at Lord’s, as the captain of the victorious Pakistan side. Little did he know that less than a year later, he would be banned from representing the same side and the players would be subject to humiliation that no cricketer in the history of the game had faced.
However Younis was treated unjustly, and was banned for doing what he did was right. He gave chances to younger players instead of tried and tested cricketers, quit T20 cricket in favour of one day players and Tests like other players from different countries to set an example in Pakistan and also improved his bowling in order to rest his main bowlers. But the cricketers he was trying to help backstabbed him and listened to the worst schemer ever in Pakistan.
Yousuf may support a beard and talk about religion every time he opens his mouth but deep down, he is full of nonsense. I am not defending Younis Khan here but after taking a look at the leaked in session footage of the meeting of Pakistan Cricket Board’s inquiry committee that was looking for loopholes during the Tour Down Under, anyone would feel the same way. Yousuf was appointed captain because he was not only a senior member but also because he commanded respect. When reports of fighting within the squad came out, no one believed that the usually quiet Yousuf would have a hand in all that.
Not only did he have a hand, he made 6 national cricketers take an oath on the Holy Quran, the Holy Book of Muslims on a matter they thought was more important than their integrity, moral values and love for the country. The players who were part of this group included Shoaib Malik, Misbah Ul Haq, Rana Naved ul Hasan, Kamran Akmal and Shahid Afridi besides Yousuf, and all but Rana and Shoaib are still part of the Pakistan team.
Yousuf made them swear that they all would unite against Younis Khan, the captain who supported them and led them to the World Cup victory (of which Yousuf was not part of). Their issue was that Younis was at times arrogant and didn’t listen to them. All players involved denied their involvement until the video footage of the in camera session came to the fore, and Yousuf was proved a schemer, a liar, a hypocrite and above all, a backstabber.
The video footage showed that Intikhab Alam and Aaqib Javed, the coaches on the tour had blamed the players for acting childishly, not cooperating with each other and also not playing for the team, focusing on the performance of their counterparts and smiling on their failures. Manager Abdur Raquib, who was part of the Australia and New Zealand tour, was shown blaming the players’ attitude, lack of education and involvement in off the field activities for the dismal showing and their failure to win a single match.
Do these players deserve to wear the green cap if all they could do is disgrace it? Shouldn’t they be charged as criminals rather than being treated as heroes? Pakistan Cricket Board needs to ban more players, and those who deserve to be banned than those who don’t.
It should be noted that it was the support staff during the tour who told the committee about this swearing oath, and he did his country a better service than these high paid cricketers who deserve to spend their careers as disgraced individuals than national heroes.
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