Thaindian News

By Omar Khalid
Karachi, Oct 15 (IANS) Younis Khan Thursday asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for a captaincy tenure till the 2011 World Cup besides more powers, if it wants him to retract his resignation.

Younis tendered his resignation Tuesday during a meeting of the National Assembly’s standing committee on sports in Islamabad. The meet was held to look into the allegations that Pakistan’s matches against New Zealand and Australia had been fixed.

A source told IANS that Younis had a meeting with PCB chairman Ijaz Butt in Lahore, where he was asked to reconsider his decision to resign as Pakistan captain.

Younis, who led Pakistan to the World Twenty20 title in England last June, said he wanted to be assured that the board will support his captaincy till the next World Cup. The sources said Younis also asked the PCB chief to remove senior team officials including Pakistan manager Yawar Saeed.

The match-fixing charges had been levelled by Jamshed Dasti, the standing committee’s chairman, and asked Younis, Butt and other senior team officials to attend the Oct 13 meeting at the Parliament House.

According to the source, Younis told Butt that he is also unhappy with speculations surrounding his position as the Pakistan captain. There have been strong rumours in the national cricket circles that PCB has been considering appointing senior all-rounder Shahid Afridi as the one-day captain.

Afridi has already replaced Younis as Pakistan Twenty20 captain. He also had a meeting with Butt in Lahore last week which triggered speculations that the PCB has decided to remove Younis as Pakistan’s one-day captain.

However, Butt has made it clear that Afridi just met him to discuss the 2010 Twenty20 World Cup to be held in the West Indies. “We just discussed the Twenty20 World Cup as it is just six months away,” said Butt.