Former cricketers Abdul Qadir and Sarfaraz Nawaz have expressed surprise at Younis Khan's decision to retire from ODIs saying that the way he quit was totally incomprehensible.
Younis Khan on Thursday announced that he would retire from ODI cricket after the first match against England at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
The- 37-old played 264 ODIs in a career that spans over 15 years. With 7240 runs, he is currently sixth on the list of highest run- getters for Pakistan in ODIs.
In the recently concluded Test series against England, he overtook Javed Miandad's record to become Pakistan's highest run-scorer in Tests.
Former leg-spin wizard, Abdul Qadir, who had urged Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to include Younis Khan in ODI squad for the series against England, said that the decision was as surprising to him as to all others.
“The decision comes as a huge surprise to me. Though, a player can announce retirement any time, I was not expecting him to leave at this stage, especially when he himself has been pressing the board to include him in the team,” said Qadir.
“Neither the PCB nor the selection committee wanted him to be part of the team. But he insisted to play one-day cricket. Several people, including me backed him but now he is saying that he has taken the decision after deep reflection and in consultation with friends and family.
“To me it is really strange,” he added.
Abdul Qadir was also of the view that the batsman had announced retirement in an undignified way.
“He broke legendary Javed Miandad's record and achieved the milestone of scoring 9000 runs in Test Cricket.”
“Soon after the conclusion of Test series he should have said that I'm retiring from one-day cricket to pave way for youngsters. This would have been most appropriate and honourable exit,” he maintained.
Former Test Cricketer Sarfraz Nawaz said if Younis Khan wanted to retire from ODI cricket after playing just one game then it was useless to put him in the squad adding that it would have been better to give chance to a deserving player.
By announcing his retirement, he said Younis had put the whole team under pressure.
“What if he doesn't perform in the first ODI and Pakistan loses the game?” he asked adding that in such a case he would be responsible as if he hadn't been in the team then some other deserving regular ODI player would have been in the team.
Sarfraz said that he was surprised as what compelled Younis to retire from ODI cricket as he forced the selectors to include him in the team and when that happened he announced the retirement midstream.
“I was among those who supported him when he was not getting a place in the ODI team, but retiring like that is not a wise decision at all,” he said.
He claimed that it was due to Younis Khan's inclusion in the squad that Chief Selector Haroon Rasheed flew to Dubai and convinced the team management for that.
“I think he should have waited for the series to end. If he was to retire like that then there was no need to push the PCB,” added Sarfraz.
