LAHORE: Record-breaking Test cricketer Younis Khan, whose capricious behaviour at times surprises many, has apologised to Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan for his abrupt move of leaving the ongoing Pakistan Cup over an altercation with on-field umpire while leading Khyber Pakhtunkhwa team.
On Monday, Younis, PCB media director Amjad Bhatti told Dawn, made a telephonic call to PCB chairman who is in Dubai attending the ICC meetings, and expressed his sorry for his hot temper that drove him to abruptly leave the Pakistan Cup after feeling dissatisfied with a decision made by field umpire Shozab Raza last Wednesday.
Shozab, during the match between KP and Islamabad at Faisalabad’s Iqbal Stadium, had declared Islamabad skipper Misbah-ul-Haq not out that drew Younis’ ire.
The 38-year-old Younis, under whose captaincy Pakistan won the 2009 World T20, first had a run-in with the aforementioned field umpire. And then to make the situation worse, when the 104-Test batsman was summoned by match referee Aziz-ur-Rehman for a hearing on the matter, he did not attend the hearing; rather in a highly surprising and uncalled for move Younis preferred to leave for Karachi.
As a result of this deviating approach adopted by Younis, the match referee imposed a fine of 100 per cent match fee on the seasoned cricketer. He is likely to rejoin the event soon.
Seasoned batsman to rejoin Pakistan Cup
When asked if the PCB chairman had accepted Younis apology, the media director said “yes” but added that the fine imposed on the batsman by the match referee would remain. Younis is likely to rejoin the event being staged in Faisalabad soon.
The PCB stance on this controversy clearly indicates that it has again opted to compromise on player discipline — particularly when it involves a prominent name — which the game’s authorities every now and then claim to uphold.
Interestingly, Younis’ offence comes under Level-II of the PCB code of conduct, and could have easily resulted in a ban of three to five Test matches for the experienced cricketer.
However, it seems the PCB is feeling the heat in placing a strong outfit for the forthcoming demanding Test series in England, and therefore it does not want to take any chances by penalising a batsman of Younis’ calibre.
Later on Monday, the PCB on the matter also issued a short press release, stating: “Younis Khan made a telephonic contact with PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan today. He during the call felt sorry for the incident that happened during the ongoing Pakistan Cup.
“He appraised the chairman about his willingness to participate in the remainder of the tournament. He said, being an adviser of chairman PCB on cricketing affairs, it was obligatory on his part to participate in the premier domestic one-day tournament for the larger interest of promoting the game in the country,” the release added.
Younis, however, stood firm on his reservations about the umpire’s decision sparking the controversy but the veteran Test batsman said despite keeping the reservations he should not have left the tournament, the the PCB media director said.
According to the Board official, Younis admitted that being a senior cricketer and also adviser to the PCB chairman, he must be more responsible.
The right-hander, who besides being the highest run-getter in Tests for Pakistan represented the country in as many as 265 ODIs before retiring from the format last year, also feels that with a major series in England coming up Pakistan cricket cannot afford any controversy at this stage, added the Board official.
Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2016