Younis Khan (L) had the support of erstwhile PCB chief Najam Sethi despite opposition against him from others.
Karachi: The now-defunct chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Najam Sethi had to use his veto powers to have former captain and senior batsman Younis Khan included in the one-day squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.
Sethi told reporters that he had to interfere in selection matters and convince the chief selector, Moin Khan, head coach, Waqar Younis and captain, Misbah-ul-Haq to have Younis in the one-day squad. (Also read: Pakistan 'home' series vs India downgraded to 2-Test affair )
"Younis is a popular player and there is huge demand for his inclusion in the one-day side which is why I told the selectors and management he should be in the side for Sri Lanka," Sethi said.
According to a reliable source, Moin, Waqar and Misbah were not in favor of having Younis in the one-day squad because of his recent poor performances in this format.
"The feeling was that Younis, 36, would be at his best playing Test cricket as he had struggled in one-day matches. Which is why he was sidelined for the one-dayers since March, 2013," the source said.
"The selectors noted that Younis had not scored a hundred in One-dayers since 2008 while he had not got a fifty in his last seven matches," the source said.
Interestingly when the committee, formed to award central contracts to players, had also demoted Younis to category B they and the board faced scathing criticism from the media and former players that led to Sethi stepping in and getting Younis promoted to the top category.
Younis meanwhile told reporters that he had heard about the chairman's role in getting him selected in the one-day squad.
"I am looking at this positively and I will try to not let down either the chairman, the selectors or team management with my performances in one-day matches in Sri Lanka," he said.
Younis said he was looking forward to making a comeback to the one-day side as he planned to play in the 2015 World Cup.
"I want to play the World Cup and for this I must maintain top form and fitness in both formats of the game and I will do my best because I don't want to let anyone down," he added.
0 comments:
Post a Comment