da betsson： Mohammad Yousuf has cranked up the tension with Pakistan’s selectioncommittee
Osman Samiuddin16-Jan-2010
Younis Khan is “a good player for the team and country”, according to Mohammad Yousuf•Associated Press
Mohammad Yousuf has cranked up the tension with Pakistan’s selectioncommittee by questioning its refusal to allow Younis Khan tocome and bolster Pakistan’s Test squad in Australia. Yousuf and the on-tour team management had made repeated requests from as early as the first Test in Melbourne to send Younisover, because they were concerned over the flimsiness of their battingline.After much dithering the request was eventually turned down, with theselectors asking Younis to recapture some form in domestic cricketinstead. Yousuf, having already overseen a series of batting collapses through NewZealand and Australia, was particularly incensed after Pakistan stumbledto 94 for 4 at the end of the second day on a pristine surface at Bellerive Oval in Hobart.”He is a good player for the team and country,” Yousuf said. “You can askthe selectors about why they didn’t send him earlier. We don’t need tocheck him in first-class cricket. He has a 50 average and has beendoing it for 10 years. We have to see him here, not there. Will someonealso take my test [to prove my form] from now on?”Younis has been selected for Pakistan’s ODI squad and will be here for thefive-match series beginning on Friday. That is the format hehas struggled in most over the years and it was a string of failures in theChampions Trophy and against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi that formed partof the reason he stepped down from the captaincy and the game. And Younisis still struggling to score runs domestically, prompting doubt about theselectors’ initial prerequisite that he show some form before being picked.Yousuf also lashed out at calls that the senior members of Pakistan’ssquad be dropped now. “In Pakistan there is all this noise aboutyoungsters needing to come in,” Yousuf said. “If he is good then sure,like Umar Akmal and Mohammad Aamer. They are good – can they be dropped?But if you force it then what is the point? Why the rush to kick out olderplayers? Is there anyone to replace them? Bring someone new then replacethe old one.”The relationship between Yousuf and the selection committee, headed byIqbal Qasim, has been tense over the course of this long tour. He hadMisbah-ul-Haq sent over to New Zealand after the player had been droppedfrom all three formats of the game just a month before.And as well as the Younis affair, there has been considerable discord overthe matter of vice-captain and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal in the run-up tothe third Test. Yousuf was keen on retaining Akmal for the final Testdespite his error-strewn Sydney display, but the board and selectors hadalready sent Sarfraz Ahmed as a replacement and insisted that he wouldreplace Akmal. Sarfraz eventually came into the side after days of Akmal insisting – withYousuf silent – that he would play.