KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and newly-appointed chief selector Rashid Latif are involved in a deadlock regarding the induction of former captain Mohammad Yousuf in the selection panel.
HunzaNews April 9th, 2014.
Yousuf, who has represented Pakistan in 90 Tests and 288 ODIs, remains one of the best batsmen Pakistan has produced to date. He amassed 7,530 runs in the Test format and accumulated 9,720 runs in ODIs.
It has been learnt by The Express Tribune that the PCB gave five names to Latif for selecting his panel, but he opted to choose only two of them and included Yousuf in his panel. That led to insecurity among the senior players of Pakistan, who then tried to pressurise the board not to appoint him.
“There is a definite deadlock between the top PCB management and Latif over Yousuf’s induction,” revealed an official privy to the matter.
“While the PCB itself has reservations regarding Yousuf, they are also being persuaded by some senior players of the team against the induction. This hasn’t gone down well with Latif, possibly because he wants an independent role where he can select a clean and strong selection committee in order to lay a strong foundation for his new job.”
Yousuf has been openly criticising the likes of Shahid Afridi, Misbahul Haq, Mohammad Hafeez and Umar Akmal in recent months while there had also been certain grudges during his playing days with the current senior lot.
The situation is making things difficult for the PCB, which feels that his past record may hinder the partiality of selection and he may settle personal scores rather than make decisions objectively.
“The board has no reservations against Latif because he is someone with a clean chit, but there are some issues with one of the members of his proposed team,” the official added.
“PCB Chairman Najam Sethi is currently in Dubai to attend an important International Cricket Council meeting and once he is back, the matter will be sorted out.”
Express Tribune