LONDON, March 20: Former Pakistan coach Richard Pybus said on Wednesday he believed veteran Rashid Latif would prove only to be a temporary captain and batsman Younis Khan would have been a better choice.

Pybus also paid tribute to former captain Waqar Younis, who was sacked on Wednesday and replaced by Rashid following their failure to make the Super Six stage of the World Cup.

Pybus, who stepped down from his post after the end of the World Cup campaign, laid the blame for their failure squarely at the feet of the players, whose splits climaxed when out of form batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq clashed with ironically Younis Khan in a football kickabout.

“In the circumstances, Waqar did an incredible job keeping the team together,” Pybus told the BBC Sport website.

“There was a general lack of desire to go out and fight and I doubt if there is anything that Waqar could have done to change that,” Pybus added.

Pybus said Younis Khan would have been a much more inspired choice as captain rather than the 34-year-old Rashid, who had a moderate World Cup and is best known as the whistleblower on the match-fixing scandal in 1994 when he walked out of the tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe, accusing then captain Salim Malik of being involved with bookmakers.

“I can see Younis Khan taking over in time,” Pybus said.

“He is a thoughtful, highly professional cricketer who expects others to maintain the standards that he sets himself.

“He is a strong, principled man and I know that if he gets the job at a future date he will have laid down the ground rules first.

“He certainly will not tolerate prima donnas.”—AFP