Younis offers to quit as captain
Osman Samiuddin
October 13, 2009
The reactions to Pakistan's defeat against New Zealand in the ICC Champions Trophy upset Younis Khan AFP
Pakistan cricket's perennially fragile peace and progress was shattered once again with Younis Khan offering to resign from the captaincy following days of increasing rumour and speculation surrounding Pakistan's exit from the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa. The board has yet to take a decision on the matter, leaving it effectively in limbo.
Pakistan's semi-final loss, and Younis' crucial drop catch off Grant Elliott, was the subject of a particularly incendiary report by an Indian newspaper in which it was hinted that there lay more to the loss than what met the eye. The ICC immediately cracked down on the report and though it was retracted the next day, it snowballed in Pakistan in the following days, culminating in today's meeting of the National Assembly's standing committee on sports in Islamabad.
The meeting was called for by the head of the committee, MNA Jamshed Dasti, who claimed Pakistan's loss was the result of match-fixing, before he took back the allegations. At the meeting Younis, already prepared with a letter of resignation, publicly made the offer to stand down, incensed at increasing media reports casting doubt on his and the team's integrity. The PCB turned it down in the meeting - and the committee told them to tackle the matter privately - but after the meeting Younis again, briefly, discussed the topic with Ijaz Butt, chairman PCB, and also in attendance.
But the PCB refused to confirm whether they had accepted the resignation, or to clarify what the current situation was. "Younis did offer to resign during the National Assembly meeting," Ijaz Butt told Cricinfo. "The match-fixing allegations and Pakistan's loss was being discussed and this was stated by Younis. It was said in a public forum so we have to think this over and I have to discuss it with him separately. I have to discuss it further and will not comment any further now."
The move also comes amid growing murmurs over the role of Shahid Afridi in the matter. Afridi personally met Butt a few days ago in Lahore; on the agenda, it has been rumoured, was the topic of the ODI leadership, though Afridi denied it. PCB officials also later quashed the speculation, saying that the meeting was not out of the ordinary. Sources close to Younis are keen to blame Afridi's angling for the post, though Afridi has publicly and regularly backed his captain. Further complicating matters was the uncertainty of Younis' availability for Pakistan's next assignment, an ODI and Twenty20 series in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, against New Zealand; Younis has still not fully recovered from the fractured finger that hampered him through the Champions Trophy.
Younis, of course, has a history with captaincy. He once stepped down from his role as stand-in captain, days before the 2006 Champions Trophy, because he was unhappy with the board administration over a number of seemingly trivial issues. Once the administration changed, however, he took up the role again. A few months later, after the 2007 World Cup and Inzamam-ul-Haq's resignation, he turned down the captaincy claiming later that the environment and circumstances at the time were not right for him to take it up. He only took over as full-time captain in February this year, after Shoaib Malik was pushed aside.
All of it leaves Pakistan, after a recent commendable upturn in fortunes, once again in a confused mess. This year, which has seen international cricket taken away from the country for the foreseeable future, has also seen the side win the World Twenty20 in England in June and reach the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy, as well as unearth some exciting new batting and bowling talent. Younis' captaincy and his sides have also been admired globally for their performances, though that message seems not to have reached Pakistan, where talk post Champions Trophy remained centred on the match-fixing allegations.
Osman Samiuddin is Pakistan editor of Cricinfo