Yousuf comes clean on ‘back stabbing’ and ‘conspiracies’ in ‘fractured’ Pak cricket
February 11th, 2010 - 2:45 pm ICT by ANIIslamabad, Feb.11 (ANI): Fissures in the Pakistan cricket team have finally surfaced, with captain Mohammed Yousuf blasting some of the senior players, saying they didn’t co-operate with him during the tour of New Zealand and Australia.
In an interview with a private television channel, Yousuf said the statement of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt regarding him being removed from captaincy after the series Down Under changed the whole atmosphere of the dressing room.
“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,” he said.
Pakistan lost the Test series 3-0 in Australia, and were whitewashed 5-0 in the ODIs for only the second time in history. It also lost the lone T20 match of the tour by two wickets.
Yousuf first refused to name the players who were creating differences in the team, but when pestered he particularly targeted the Akmal brothers and former captain Shoaib Malik.
He targeted the younger Akmal 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,” The Dawn quoted Yousuf, as saying.
When asked to pick a player for Pakistan’s captaincy, Yousuf said : “We all know what he’s good at, certainly not captaincy,” while referring to Malik. (ANI)
- One member created disharmony in team, says Yousuf - Feb 10, 2010
- PCB chief rules out recalling Younus, Yousuf - Jul 07, 2010
- Yousuf-Younus unlikely to be recalled for England Test series - Jul 26, 2010
- Pakistan ignore Younis for Test series against Australia - Dec 08, 2009
- Inzamam rubbishes allegations of masterminding players' rebellion against Younis - Jun 27, 2010
- Yousuf's inclusion for England Test series 'a laughable situation': Zaheer - Aug 09, 2010
- 'Beleaguered' Yousuf says lack of 'unity' behind Brisbane defeat - Jan 23, 2010
- Malik says no to T20 captaincy - Feb 13, 2010
- PCB says team manager Abdul Raqeeb is lying - Mar 15, 2010
- 'Defiant' Yousuf rules out resignation - Feb 05, 2010
- Yousuf's 'defensive' captaincy, lack of team discipline blamed for Pak's Oz debacle - Feb 13, 2010
- 'Not 100 per cent satisfied with Pak team's World Cup preparations': Afridi - Dec 04, 2010
- Akmal rejoicing return to Pakistan team - Jan 05, 2011
- Younus Khan seeks meeting with PCB chief Butt to resolve disputes - Oct 16, 2010
- Quitting T20 made me a better player: Clarke - Jan 06, 2012
Tags: conspiracies, dressing room, going home, islamabad, malik, mohammed, odis, pak cricket, pakistan cricket board, pakistan cricket board pcb, pakistan cricket team, private television, second time, series 3, stiff back, television channel, test series, time in history, umar, wickets
