It was certainly the night of the long knives and much like the purge that we read about in history; a Caesar befallen and the dramatic irony being that among the back stabbers was one of his own. Not long after he had sat down for his last supper on Friday, he went down no doubt crying: 'Et Tu Ashraf?'

It is not an episode in which Dan Brown will be interested for there is no code to unravel; the plot clearly playing itself out since the start of the year. And there was no resignation for sure as Shaharyar sahib was at pains to insist. You don't announce a successor within minutes of accepting a resignation. He went the way he had sent Javed Miandad home two and half years ago. Life is a great leveller.

But certainly the cricket world is aghast, if only by the timing and the captaincy roulette. Yousuf said when accepting the captaincy on Friday that it is all arranged by The Lord. Well, the Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away, or at least relegates to vice captaincy.

To have happened on the doorstep of the ICC Champions Trophy is indicative of the malaise that had set in and which President Musharraf could no longer tolerate after a year of living dangerously by the PCB. When Shaharyar Khan bought his copy of In The Line Of Fire, he didn't know the half of it.

So the cricket board renowned for the captaincy roulette has fired the shots again. It reminds me twenty years ago when the late Abdul Hafeez Kardar removed Mushtaq Mohammad over a pay dispute and appointed Intikhab Alam in his place and also for the tour of Australia and West Indies. The decision was soon reversed as the late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, then the Prime Minister, overruled Kardar and reinstated Mushtaq.

We had already entered the Guinness Book of World Records for most captains in a sport within 11 years, 17 including Wasim Akram and Saeed Anwar thrice and Rameez and Rashid Latif twice.

Now we must have entered it in the time category with four captains in 9 days and at the moment we still don't know if Inzamam will return as captain. If Dr Ashraf can overturn Mushtaq's and Yousuf's appointments he can also overturn Inzamam's appointment for the West Indies series. Personally I would have waited till after the Champion's Trophy to reinstate Younis Khan. It has caused unnecessary distraction for the players, not to mention embarrassment for Yousuf and Razzaq.

So when did the ball start rolling? I believe it was on that fateful day at The Oval.

The President must have thought that a Chairman who termed a 50 minute sit out as being late 'by a few minutes' had seen better days. It was certainly time for him to go home and since he couldn't be trusted with seeing the time himself had to be helped on his way.

In all the bloodletting of our own October Revolution in cricket following the big one itself that will be celebrated on October 12, everyone has forgotten a certain Younis Khan. He was the one who hammered the last nail in the woodwork that carried Shaharyar out of the Gaddafi Stadium.

So what happened? Well based on my observations of the past three years, ever since Rashid Latif was conspired against and removed because he was an upright, no nonsense captain who believed everyone had to give his best because everyone was well paid, Younis was a targeted man.

Younis grew up in cricket with Rashid, and his family-inherited value system was further cemented under Rashid. He played for Malir Gymkhana and Rashid immediately took him under his wing. Younis has since grown up as a man of solid integrity and believes that every team member should give the way he gives of himself. He used to walk six miles to play for Malir Gymkhana at a time when Karachi was raining bullets and when he entered cricket soon found Rashid back in the national team. When Rashid became captain, there were some members who felt he was the natural successor although Rashid always had Yousuf as his vice captain.

When Rashid left the side in acrimonious conditions some of the cricketers were vary of Younis as they felt he was from the old camp. Younis didn't make it easy for himself by staying his own man and concentrating only on his cricket.

Eventually they dropped him from the Test side when India toured Pakistan in 2004. Even the foreign media had ganged up on him saying he wasn't Test material because he hadn't got a hundred in ODIs, conveniently overlooking the fact that he was normally sent in at 6 or 7, sometimes even lower.

One day while we were having coffee during his days in the wilderness we discussed his future and proud and self confident he said to me: "I will come back because I want to play cricket for Pakistan and I know I am good. I will see how long can they keep me out?"

Those words have stayed with me as has the determined look on him when he said those words. Sure enough, he fought his way back and was eventually slotted in at No.3 against Sri Lanka. He fetched a hundred and the captain had no choice but to take him to India.

There, he again he was in extreme anger when going out to bat for the second time in the first Test. Apparently he been castigated by an official on that tour for the way he had got out in the first innings for a duck. Younis cracked a hundred and gestured toward the pavilion to that official in particular. It did not go down well with him.

Younis went on to not just make tons of runs in the three Tests but also lead Pakistan with great ingenuity and insight when Inzi was unfit. Interviewing the official at the time by telephone for a PTV show I asked him about Younis' captaincy during an ODI win hen Inzi hadn't captained and Younis had led with brilliance. His reply was that Inzamam was still captain! You see Younis has never been accepted by the establishment because he is nobody's man but his own and his country's. Younis may not sport a beard but he was saying his prayers five times before some sufi cricketers of today even began reading the hadith.Many have doubted his patriotism when he resigned on Friday but very few realized the sacrifice he had given. He had put his own career on line because disciplinary action was imminent and he could even be axed from the team.

He knew the risks because he was not really enamored by Saleem Altaf who would have thrown the kitchen sink at him. But he realized that some players would not give their best because they would not like him to be a successful captain and have him on their head permanently.

I believe that was why he decided to step down when he saw the PCB top management least bothered to correct certain players' attitudes. And to answer Shaharyar Khan' question why he didn't come to him first, well he is a Pathan and they repay blood with blood. They didn't consult him with Inzamam's replacement; he didn't consult them on his decision. The rest, as they say, is history.

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