By and large, Younis Khan may enjoy the sympathy of the entire nation after dramatically quitting the Pakistan cricket captain’s post but the player clearly doesn’t have full backing of the cricket board and his team-mates.
Though the general reaction to Younus’ decision to quit captaincy, after grilled by parliamentarians on match-fixing charges, has generally been very supportive, things are not as simple as they appear on the surface.
While Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaj Butt is insisting that he has not accepted Younis’ resignation and would meet him to convince him to reconsider his decision, he also called a meeting of his think-tank on Friday to discuss the entire situation.
A member of the PCB governing council also described Younis as a “dictator” and said some of his decisions in the Champions Trophy were questionable as he didn’t listen to the advice of his senor team-mates.
Some of Younis’ team-mates have also become active and are using the media to circulate stories that Younis had become unpopular among his team-mates and that they were generally happy he had stepped down.
The players also didn’t want the board to ask Younus to rethink his decision.
Former player Mushtaq Ahmed said the PCB should accept Younus’ resignation and appoint Shahid Afridi as the captain of the one-day team and Mohammad Yousuf as the Test side captain.
“If Younis has resigned then the board must accept his resignation as he is not in the proper frame of mind to lead the team now. It would be better if Afridi was asked to lead the one-day side and a senior player like Yousuf named Test captain,” Mushtaq said.
While Butt has made it clear that he would talk to Younus again before the October 19 governing council meeting, indications are that the board is also not 100 percent certain about asking Younus to continue as captain
