Pakistan Cricket Board waiting for Muhammad Yousuf to return
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has kept the door open for former skipper Muhammad Yousuf who has been asked to rethink about his decision to retire in order to become part of the national team.
The PCB has already given relief to five of his teammates it penalized heavily in the aftermath of a disastrous tour of Australia last year and is anxiously waiting for Yousuf’s comeback.
After retracting the indefinite ban on former skippers Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan, Irfan Qadir, an independent arbitrator hearing appeals of the banned players, has asked the board to review Yousuf's ban so that he is "treated at par with the other players in these appeals”.
In response, the PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt said that PCB has already informed Yousuf that he can play for the side if he comes out of retirement.
"Yousuf has not appealed, he has retired. We have sent messages to him through others that if he takes back his retirement, he can play for Pakistan again. But he declined that offer," said Ijaz Butt.
The PCB Chairman further clarified that if he takes his retirement back, he will be warmly welcomed back into the team. Butt said that he is a great cricketer and can play for some more years.
"If he (Yousuf) takes back his retirement he will be welcomed back into the side. He is a great player and has a few more years in him. He has done so well for us and particularly on the last tour of England he was outstanding, so we would definitely be welcomed back," he added.
Qadir on Saturday reduced and removed the penalties from skipper Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan along with the Akmal brothers. Afridi was relieved from the fine altogether, the indefinite ban on former skipper Younis Khan was lifted and those of the Akmal brothers abridged. The one-year bar on Shoaib Malik had also been removed last week and a parallel ban on Rana Naved-ul-Hasan is also expected to be lifted later this month.
All these recent happenings have left Mohammad Yousuf as the sole surviving banned player. His punishments were similar to Younis who had to face an indefinite ban from the Pakistan Cricket Board and was also axed from the captaincy of the ODI and Test side. Yousuf, in protest announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket. Since then, a number of efforts have been made by the newly appointed captain Shahid Khan Afridi along with others to tempt the batting maestro back into the international fold. However, Muhammad Yousuf has ruled out all such offers.
Yousuf was requested by the PCB to reconsider his retirement for Pakistan's upcoming tour to England but he rebuffed the offer.
"I will not change my decision about the retirement. What happens in the future only God knows," said the former Skipper.
Yousuf's plans are not lock, stock and barrel clear. The former skipper himself seems confused about his future. Though Yousuf has rebuffed to play cricket in this summer against England, the player has revealed that he might take back his retirement for the series against South Africa, which would be played in October on the lush green grounds of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
It is also thought that he is in doubt about playing under the current administration once again. On Pakistan's previous tour to England, Yousuf was the most successful player where he scored almost twice as many runs in four Test matches – 631runs - as the second leading run-scorer, with three centuries at an average of 90.14 runs per match.
Mohammad Yousuf in an earlier interview said, "I am not sure when I will be ready for international cricket. The South Africa series is a possibility and I won't rule myself out of that series, but of course things are not always that simple. I need to have a long and hard think about things and then come to a decision”.
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