Cricket
New captain for Pakistan
2010-01-22 18:58
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Karachi - Pakistan are to appoint a new captain after the tour of Australia next month, the country's cricket chief said Friday.
"This captain (Mohammad Yousuf) was for this series only and we will decide after the tour of Australia about the captain, we will change," Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt told the private ARY News channel.
Yousuf-led Pakistan were whitewashed 3-0 in the Test series against Australia earlier this month.
Pakistan had appointed Younus Khan captain for the tour of New Zealand in November-December last year but he pulled out to take rest, forcing the PCB to hand over the captaincy to Yousuf.
Following the New Zealand trip, Yousuf was retained for the Australia tour as Younus did not make himself available.
Butt said the loss of Younus as captain was unfortunate.
"We did not change Younus. Unfortunately the sports committee of the parliament made him run away after they levelled match fixing allegations against him," Butt told the channel in an interview.
Younus resigned after the standing committee on sports alleged that the Pakistan team had thrown a match against Australia in the Champions Trophy in South Africa in September.
Australia sneaked home by one run off the last ball to qualify for the semi-finals.
"How can someone fix a match on the last ball? Only a magician can do that and on this allegation Younus was mentally disturbed and resigned," Butt said.
Butt asked Younus to reconsider his decision and the player led the team against New Zealand in the five-match one-day series held in the United Arab Emirates in November last year.
Younus managed just 22 runs in three matches in Pakistan's 3-2 defeat, a slump in form which led him to pull out of the New Zealand tour.
"Younus was a good captain but he was hurt on the allegations and quit. Now we will soon decide about the change," said Butt.
Pakistan's next Test assignment is in England where they play Australia in two Tests -- a series shifted out of Pakistan over security fears.
They are due to play four Tests against England on the same tour.