KARACHI , MAR 10 -

Former captains Younus Khan and Mohammad Yousuf will no longer be considered for selection by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after an inquiry into reports of infighting on the disastrous tour of Australia.

The PCB chose to implement the recommendations of an inquiry committee to also hand out 12-month bans to Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved and fine Shahid Afridi and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal three million rupees ($35,000) and Umar Akmal two million ($24,000).

"Mohammad Yousuf and Younus Khan... attitude has a trickledown effect which is a bad influence for the whole team (and they) should not be part of (the) national team in any format," the PCB said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The recommendations of the inquiry committee will go a long way in arresting the continuing decline in Pakistan cricket."

Pakistan lost every match against Australia in their three-test, five one-day and solo Twenty20 series.

The PCB said the six-member inquiry committee, headed by its chief operating officer Wasim Bari, had based its recommendations on information gathered during several hearings with the players and reports from the team management.

Tafazzul Rizvi, who sat on the inquiry team, told Reuters that Yousuf and Younus had the right to appeal and former captain Rashid Latif expected them to win their cases.

"You can't hand out such severe punishments to players of the calibre of Yousuf and Younus Khan," Latif told Reuters.

Another former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was also scathing of the decision.

"Why was action not taken earlier against these players? Why did the board keep quiet for so long when the team was on tour?" Inzamam told Reuters.

Posted on: 2010-03-10 04:08

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