Pakistani cricket-the good the bad and the ugly
Pakistan cricket setup is just like the Sergio Leone spaghetti Western The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Here Younis Khan, the disgraced former captain who is banned from representing Pakistan for an unidentified time is the Good, the man who recommended the ban former wicket keeper Wasim Bari and the Chief Operating Officer of the PCB is the Bad and the hated Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board Ijaz Butt is the Ugly character.
The recently leaked in-camera session footage of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s inquiry committee set up to look into the disastrous tour of Australia proves that not all is well in the green shirts camp. They might have reached the semi final of the Twenty20 World Cup but their performance wasn’t satisfactory at all. The manager on the tour Yawar Saeed was part of the inquiry committee, which was headed by Wasim Bari and featured some members of the governing board who don’t know a thing about the game. Yet they gave a one-sided decision to ban Younis Khan who was asked to represent the side in the one-day cricket series on insistence of the skipper Mohammad Yousuf, another banned player!
The banning of Younis and Yousuf had reasons as different as North and South Pole. While Yousuf was banned because he used his appearance as a pious Muslim to affect a revolt in the side, making as many as 5 other players to take an oath to unite against Younis, the former captain did nothing to deserve the ban. While Yousuf was cornered and question by the committee and looked confused since he thought the matter would not be investigated, Younis was his calm self in the meeting, knowing he had done no wrong to deserve the penalty.
Furthermore, Rana Naved, the all-rounder who received the year-long penalty for being involved in suspicious activity claimed that Yousuf ill treated him especially after it was made known to him that he had made peace with Younis. He claimed that Yousuf deliberately snatched the new ball from him despite knowing his ability to take wickets in the early overs, making his personal choice favour his national integrity!
Yousuf couldn’t deny any of the allegations that were piled against him and that is why he was the first one to resign in protest, but doesn’t that prove that he was wrong in the 1st place! Doesn’t that mean that he didn’t even deserve to wear the green cap that he disgraced while as captain?
On the other hand, Younis Khan just tried to be a better captain, and the pressure of winning with a bunch of highly uncooperative players took toll on his immaculate batting and fielding. He won the World Cup with the help of new players like Mohammad Aamer and a rejuvenated Shahid Afridi and would have continued the winning streak had senior players not backstabbed him on finding their places in the side under question.
And then there were the Akmal brothers Kamran and Umar. While Umar’s only black spot on his career has been supporting his brother, Kamran has been under the radar for his goofy wicket keeping. He has dropped catches that even a blind wicket keeper would have caught while it seems he has forgotten how to run out players, something he showed during the Aussie tour as well as against the crunch Twenty20 World Cup match against England.
If Pakistan is to get back on its feet, it has to get rid of seniors in all forms of the game - the management as well as the competitive form. Ijaz Butt is in no way fit to run the board with his self-appointed henchmen Wasim Bari, Zakir Khan and Yawar Saeed who have done nothing to deserve the place. They should be replaced by those who understand the game and hand the reigns back to the best available captain in the country, Younis Khan, who has been ill-treated for being right!
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