We have six to seven captains in the team: Yousuf

Entertainment Cricket and Other Sports
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**Wonder who this mysterious guy is, any ideas. I think Shoaib Malik as he was dropped from tests in Aus.

We have six to seven captains in the team: Yousuf **

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/325eaa00415c69cbb853fb1509d5e2b5/YousufAfridiRE_608x325.jpg?MOD=AJPERES

Yousuf’s interview, quite detailed and frank, was a sharp contrast to his perceived personality, humble and kind. It was evidence of the hard knock life that is Pakistan cricket and its captaincy. -Photo by Reuters
](http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/home/we+have+six+to+seven+captains+in+the+team+yousuf)

**One member of the Pakistani cricket team that toured New Zealand and Australia was particularly disruptive and outright ill-behaved, Mohammad Yousuf, the interim captain for the two series, revealed yesterday in a TV interview. But it wasn’t just this mysterious player who copped some serious flak from Yousuf. Shoaib Malik and the Akmal brothers were subject to some harsh words a well.**

“There is one player in the team who is disturbing team unity and other players. I spoke to coach Intikhab Alam and other management about it and they agreed with me," Yousuf said. “I will only disclose his name to the chairman of the board, Ijaz Butt.”

“Intikhab Alam (coach), Abdur Raqeeb (manager) and [Shahid] Afridi know who the player is and we discussed it as well several times,” Yousuf added.

“During the New Zealand tour and onwards Intikhab was telling me to be wary of him, but I wanted to see for myself. I saw in Australia how his body language was and we dropped him from the Tests. We decided in Australia during a meeting that we had to do something about him.”

Pakistan lost the Test series 3-0 in Australia, were whitewashed 5-0 in the ODIs for only the second time in history, and lost the final game of the tour as well - a T20 at the MCG.

Yousuf’s captaincy came in for much criticism, in particular from the last day of the Sydney Test onwards. To add to his woes a statement reportedly from the board chairman midway through the tour that the captaincy would change hands once the tour ended, completely disjointed the team.

Yousuf said the statement triggered a race for the captaincy and completely shook up the team’s morale. “I don’t know when the statement was made, but when it was, suddenly everyone in the team changed. Six or seven players started to see themselves as captains all of a sudden. At the start of the tour in New Zealand, the players were cooperating with me, but as the tour went on I felt they weren’t because they knew I wouldn’t be captain in the next series.”

Yousuf defended his leadership, arguing that nobody wanted the job when the toughest challenges presented themselves. “I don’t have natural leadership qualities in me but I have tried hard to do a good job of the responsibility given to me,” he said.

“It is unfair to compare me with Ricky Ponting as far as captaincy is concerned because he is far more experienced. I accepted the captaincy in the best interest of my country. I had a lot of lengthy discussion with Ponting during breaks as the two teams usually got together for lunch. He told me that when he was appointed to lead Australia he laid down two conditions before Cricket Australia: ‘I want players in the team who think along the same lines as me and I only want players who will put their country before everything,’ he told them.”

This comment seemed to be hinting at the Akmal brothers and when prompted Yousuf got stuck into the younger one in particular. “Umar was fine as far as I knew. What happened in his room and how he got a stiff back all of a sudden was a surprise to me. He miraculously recovered as soon as we told him that he would be going home,” Yousuf said with a grin on face.

Shoaib Malik, a man who doesn’t exactly tickle the fancy of Yousuf because of a fractious past, was also subject to some sly when the TV interviewer asked Yousuf to pick a possible candidate for Pakistan’s captaincy. “We all know what he’s good at, certainly not captaincy,” the veteran batsman said.

Yousuf’s interview, quite detailed and frank, was a sharp contrast to his perceived personality, humble and kind. It was evidence of the hard knock life that is Pakistan cricket and its captaincy. The sooner he brings this new found posture to the field the better it will be for his team’s fortunes, that is if we he leads again.

DAWN.COM | Cricket | We have six to seven captains in the team: Yousuf

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Re: We have six to seven captains in the team: Yousuf

I think that's the same person because of which Younis Khan resigned. All things point to SHoaib Malik, because he is the former captain before YK. And I am sure after being made captain for T20 he would probably have a bigger ego.

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Re: We have six to seven captains in the team: Yousuf

its Malik im damn sure

MQM - PSP Merger??
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Re: We have six to seven captains in the team: Yousuf

I think its Akmal more than Malik. The body language was more pathetic of senior Akmal than Malik. Akmal being dropped from T20 in UAE is a clear sign, and the Umar Akmal sudden stiff back and then recovery is also a sign. That Idiot Akmal does not need to be in the team as a keeper. I would only add him in the team as a T20 batsman, he has not delivered much in the past couple of matches other that T20 in UAE and Australia.

""“During the New Zealand tour and onwards Intikhab was telling me to be wary of him, but I wanted to see for myself. I saw in Australia how his body language was and we dropped him from the Tests. We decided in Australia during a meeting that we had to do something about him.""

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Re: We have six to seven captains in the team: Yousuf

^ He was dropped for Test matches which means it can't be Akmal. He played two test matches there. I'm suspecting Malik or Misbah.

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Re: We have six to seven captains in the team: Yousuf

You guys are asking for wrath of samn :o

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Samb koh Shehnaz sheikh ka wasta dey dein gey, phir naraz nahin hongey. :D

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Yeah it could be Misbah. I know Malik could be one of the contenders, but one of the major politics player would be Akmal and Misbah.

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I'd still say Malik. It might be Kamran Akaml too. I dont think it could be Misbah, because Misbah knew he was not in the squad and probably his last chance to make an impact or forget about international cricket again.

Cafe interview Q&A : LP ( Little Princess )
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Shoaib Malik

I am
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Re: We have six to seven captains in the team: Yousuf

One of Kamran or Malik

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Malik is bitter because of obvious reasons. Anyone who is replaced from captaincy and demoted to 12th man wouldn't be too happy.

On the other hand, Akmal showing off in front of his brother has cost him his job.

Our unprofessional board should discipline these 'professionals'.

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Re: We have six to seven captains in the team: Yousuf

Well...think back. Yousuf's comments just dont add up or his comments are hypocritical. Remember after the NZ series, the selection committee wanted to drop Shoaib Malik and Yousuf and Kamran wanted to include him in the Aussie squad. So Malik was added as the extra 16th man on their insistence. So if Inti had warned him about Malik, why did he keep him?

If its Kamran Akmal, why after the 2nd test did Yousuf openly backed him up to play the 3rd test in the media.

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Further proof of too much politics and groupism in Pakistani team. Aside from the well-recognised problems with fielding and batting this longstanding ailment is stopping them from performing to their potential/as a team

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And Peter Roebuck wrote this:

http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/447662.html

Pakistan is a team struggling for direction, from a nation batting for identity. **Ever since the tragic death of its founding father soon after independence had been attained, the country has been at the mercy of a fickle political climate. Arguably the country has become as much a political as a geographic entity. Pakistan has been driven by its passions. Whereas India tends to calm down after a while, its northern neighbour can simmer. Volatility has been its hallmark. **
**Inevitably the wider turmoil has been reflected in the way Pakistan has played its cricket. It is hard to build structures and stability where neither exists in the society at large. It’s difficult to assert authority when the holders of high office themselves are constantly looking over their shoulders. It’s hard to make a plan when the nation itself has no such confidence. Factions and friction are the inevitable result of all these unsettling forces. Everything is transitory. **
Pakistan has many faces At once it is a powerful nation with a large and fitfully growing economy and also a perilous place in a fractious neighbourhood. At once it is a religious state and yet also a place where new television stations open almost weekly. It is the land of Karachi, Lahore and the rugged mountains of the North. It is a country Westerners rarely visit, and yet, when they do, often return surprised and impressed from.
No country can be put in a little box. Iraq has an ancient culture. Iran counts amongst the most literate places around. Zimbabwe’s schools are second to none. Australia has a television station, SBS, given over overwhelmingly to immigrant communities. Pakistan too resists caricature.
Over the decades Pakistani cricket reflected the forces evident in wider society. At times in the early years the local game was dominated by anglophiles from wealthy backgrounds determined to prove that they could be as respectable as their former rulers. For a long time the subcontinental teams were the most sporting anywhere, though the West Indians ran them close. Only Australia found its voice from the outset, but then it was not a conquered land so much as a place for outcasts and opportunists. And so the Aussies did not walk on cue or talk politely or pitch the ball up.

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Re: We have six to seven captains in the team: Yousuf

^ Remember yousuf said he wanted to see by himself so he might have added Malik.

Anyways, its true that Butt sahab did quite a lot to contribute to this situation by giving the statement about changing captain in the middle of the tour.

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Re: We have six to seven captains in the team: Yousuf

It could be Malik, Misbah, or Imran Farhat. Those are the players dropped from Tests in Australia. The #1 suspect would still be Malik though, since quite a few people have complained about him in the past (especially Abdul Qadir who had warned about him last year).

What's more interesting is, who are these six or seven players who saw themselves as captains? Malik, Afridi are the obvious ones. Could Kamran, Salman, Asif, Kaneria, Gul be the other ones?

Should I accept him?
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Yousuf makes ZERO sense in this statement. It's impossible for ONE person to cause disunity in a team. Even if Malik is supposedly causing problems, he is definetly not alone and has a group of players backing him. Yousuf is saying all this to get sympathy and it's his last ditch effort to stay on as captain. He knows if he is removed from captaincy he will most likely be dropped from the team and might only be kept in the team for test matches.

Actions speak louder than words and the kind spirit players showed on the field under Yousuf's leadership, it's very obvious they don't want to play under such a sissy and pathetic captain.

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Re: We have six to seven captains in the team: Yousuf

Yousuf was on Bolain kya baat hai show on Geo Super. I asked my wife to record the show but afsos... I'll look for it, it's worth watching.

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Its impossible for one person to be the 'disunity' but when one starts group-bazi then he becomes the reason of disunity... may be that is what Inti and Yousuf meant.