By Omar Khalid
Karachi, Dec 14 (IANS) Pakistan’s regular cricket captain Younis Khan, who has been mysteriously missing from the scene for the last few days, returned to action Monday but surprisingly as a budding coach.

Out of the blue, Younis turned up at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore to attend a National Level 1 coaching course that is being conducted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for aspiring coaches.

According to sources, Younis expressed his interest in attending the coaching course after which the PCB gave its green signal.

A PCB spokesman said that Younis will attend the proceedings of the course for full five days. The spokesman, however, declined to give any further information. Younis himself was unavailable for comments.

The middle-order batsman opted out of the Test tour of New Zealand last month after leading Pakistan to a disappointing 1-2 defeat in the one-day series against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi.

Later, he was overlooked for the tour of Australia which will get under way next week after Younis failed to make himself available for the challenging assignment. In fact, he totally disappeared for a couple of weeks. Some close sources said he has suffered a foot injury in a fishing accident.

With Younis unavailable, the PCB was forced to continue with senior batsman Mohammad Yousuf as captain of a 16-man Test squad for Australia.

Younis, 32, last month indicated he would want to make his comeback on the tour of Australia. However, the selectors wanted Younis to appear in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy to prove his form and fitness. Younis did not take part in the tournament.

Just six months back, Younis was on the top of the world after leading Pakistan to a memorable World Twenty20 triumph in England. But after a series of upheavals in the past few months, he finally decided to take a break from international cricket after scoring only 22 runs as Pakistan lost their one-day series against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi last month.

Younis, who averages over 53.73 from 63 Tests, is one of Pakistan’s most successful No. 3 batsmen. Batting at that position, he averages a healthy 60 from 35 Tests since 2004.