Pakistan dishes out severe punishments following Australia tour
Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf have today been banned by the Pakistan Cricket Board from all formats of the game for an indefinite period, whilst Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan were banned for a year.
Kamran and Umar Akmal have also been fined about £20,000 and put on six month probations.
These decisions are the fallout from a terrible tour of Australia where Pakistan failed to win a single match, and Younis and Yousuf are being blamed for causing in-fighting within the squad and being a “bad influence” on the whole team.
The announcement was a bit of a shambles, as is typical of the PCB. The first statement said that the sanction didn’t quite amount to a life ban, and that although Younis and Yousuf would not play International cricket anymore, they were free to play at a lower level.
But then another statement claimed that this was not necessarily the end of their careers, and that they may still be considered for selection in the future.
The overriding reaction from the cricketing world has been one of confusion, and we’ll all be keeping an eye out from further news from the Pakistan camp. It will be interesting to see how their preparations for the World Twenty20 unfold over the next few weeks, and whether these decisions might actually have the opposite impact from that intended.
March 11th, 2010 at 8:42 am
I was tempted to go to Headingley this season for the Pakistan-Australia test match. I don’t think I’ll bother now. Yousuf and Younis are world class players. I have no insights whatsoever into the internal workings of the Pakistan team. The punishments meted out suggest that their actions were of the most heinous possible kind.
What on earth would possess two such estimable cricketers to risk their playing careers? It seems likely to me that there may be a variety of sinners and that these two are the victims of ‘Victors’ Justice’.
The sooner the Pakistan Cricket authorities earn respect with wise and thoughtful actions, the sooner the Pakistan Cricket team will be able to fulfil its immense potential.