Younis Khan has refused to captain Pakistan in the Champions Trophy just two days before the team was due to fly to India. He was appointed captain late last month after the ICC slapped a four match ban on captain Inzamam-ul-Haq at the hearing for The Oval controversy
“I don’t want to be a dummy captain and the reason why I have refused the captaincy will be revealed afterward,” Younis told reporters at a press conference in Lahore with coach Bob Woolmer. Younis was scheduled to hold a full press conference ahead of the team’s departure for Jaipur on Saturday but instead he turned up, uttered one sentence and left.
“Younis has not told us any reason and we are in negotiations with him,” Saleem Altaf, the Pakistan board’s directotr of operations told reporters. “As soon as we get any details we will reveal them to the media.”
The PCB was holding an emergency briefing at its headquarters in Lahore between chairman Shaharyar Khan and other officials.
something's not quite right here. I hope this has nothing to do with infighting within the team.
..............maybe Saleem Altaf has irritated him in some way. Zaheer Abbas recently blamed internal cricket board politics within the PCB as the reason behind his dismissal. Altaf apparently was totally against him and had wanted to make Talat Ali manager for sometime.
It was nice as long as it lasted: A Pakistan squad with no visible politics.
I am very surprised because Younis accepted the captaincy earlier and had no qualms about only having it for a 'series." His statement that "I don't want to be a dummy Captain" means that he might be protesting against someone bullying him or using him to enforce their own policies (Inzi?) and not allowing him to make his own decisions regarding the team?
Is this likely to affect the teams chances in the ICC trophy? Even if he re-agrees to captain the side - what chances are there that the same thing what ever may be will not happen again during the tournament i.e. bullying etc by others rather than let him have the complete control.
CricInfo piece on it says that both Saleem Altaf and Talat Ali were in negotiations with him but hadn't managed to convince him yet. If Younis had fallen out with Talat Ali OR Saleem Altaf, he probably wouldn't have been talking to them directly (speculating here).
Could it be that Inzi pressurized him to play certain team, adopt certain policies, or keep certain playing order while impressing upon him that he was only a temporary Captain? That ought to rub a Pathan the wrong way? (speculating again).
Could it be that Inzi pressurized him to play certain team, adopt certain policies, or keep certain playing order while impressing upon him that he was only a temporary Captain? That ought to rub a Pathan the wrong way? (speculating again).
Your speculation may be quite true and this is what I also think. It's time that the senior officials stand up up to Inzi. We all know that this is a temporary captaincy assignment for Younis and was the firm favourite to take over permanently eventually - he should be given complete control to experiment with his own ideas rather than some one trying to influence their ideas on him.
I really am waiting to find out what really happened or is happening. If Younis's got good enough reason then I think we should all support him but if he doesn't want to lead the team just because he's not a permanent captain then I think its about time Pakistan chose someone else as Inzi's deputy, either Yousuf or Razzaq.
I think PCB has no choice but to hand out the captaincy in CT to Yousuf if they can't get things sorted with Younis.
Yes - it will be interesting to know what really was the reason for Younis to change his mind. However, I honestly feel that the real reasons or truth will never be known as the PCB will cover the full facts.
I too thought about it for a bit, but figured this couldn't be the case. It is because Younis was aware of being made the Captain only for a series for a long time, and he had even given statements saying Inzi would be missed and that he'd try to lead effectively. If he didn't like being given the captaincy only for a series, he would have objected to it much earlier.
The "dummy" remark (I think he might have meant 'puppet' since in Urdu the two are interchangeable) shows that he's upset at someone else wanting to pull the strings. My guess is Inzi.
When Inzi was first made captain of Pakistani team, I thought he was pretty mild and religiously did whatever Woolmer told him to. But during the past six months, his statements, team composition, batting order have led me to believe that it was the opposite all along. I am getting more and more convinced that Inzi has been calling majority of if not all the shots and probably goes against Woolmer's advice or plans at times. It's not a realization I am comfortable with :(
Eh, it's only idle speculation on a message board man. I would worry too if I was doing this on National TV resulting in public unrest, but fortunately or unfortunately, that is not the case, so we can have our fun here :)
Just as i said on 13th Sep. I dont know if I should be happy on my prediction being correct or sad for Pakistani team. (click to check)
YOUNUS KHAN SHOULD GET A BIG SPANK ON HIS BACK FOR THIS. WHATEVER was the reason, this is not the way to deal things. You dont wash your dirty cloths in public.
UPDATE: Just saw the clip on GEO NEWS of the Younus’s press conference. Woolmer had no clue what’s going on, he was stun must be wondering what’s going n around him and younus was REALLY MAD at someone (i don’t know who)
We don't know what happened. But if Younis hands are being tied than he is right to refuse the job. He is the captain for this series and Inzi or anyone else should keep out of it. If there is interference and he is being dictated to than we should support him. I am sure that Strauss was not dictated by either Flintoff or Vaughan when he was incharge this summer. Younis has my support.
i concur
younis might have good reasons, but for now, he has demolished our confidence in team unity… excellent, i guess thats all we need before our world cup.
for all younis captaincy fans, here is the first of many things that we might have to deal with in future. Dragging the issue in public is a big no no in a team sport and younis better have a damn good reason and he should be ready to reveal it. This is exactly how teams go south and I really hope this is not the first glimpse of us repeating 2003 WC, when we had an awesome team on paper, but internal conflicts destroyed us.
For now, the benefit of the doubt goes to younis for the image he has created through his interviews and such. The thing that upsets me is that A.Sohail, Miandad and all those other smarty pants will now get an opportunity to lash the board and the team and stupid Geo will create their own spin and brainwash the fans and all of this comes when we got CT coming up; we have already got an excuse for CT failure.