Pakistan cricketers have a tendency to be in news for all the wrong reasons. Controversies and cricket have been close friends in Pakistan for a long time.
In 1981-82, almost the entire team refused to play under Javed Miandad’s captaincy. A second XI was picked for Sri Lanka series; Saleem Malik and Saleem Yousuf were the finds of that period; Miandad soon stepped down, paving way for the start of Imran Khan’s captaincy.
In 1992-93, Miandad was again sidelined by his own players during the ODI series in Australia, which led to Wasim Akram taking over. And not long afterwards, Akram was pulled down by a group of players led by vice-captain Waqar Younis.
These days Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad have gained fame for giving our cricket administrators constant headaches.
During the ongoing Pakistan Cup, senior batsman Younis Khan triggered a controversy by returning home midway through the tournament in Faisalabad.
He was the captain of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He left after match referee Aziz Rehman summoned him for a disciplinary hearing.
Younis was fined 50 percent of his match fee for breaching level 2 of the PCB’s domestic code of conduct. His offences were questioning an umpiring decision, showing dissent and threatening an umpire during a match against Punjab. He made some remarks to fourth umpire Rashid Riaz.
No doubt Misbah should have been given out as the replays showed that the ball was hitting the middle stump, but even then the behaviour of Younis was against sportsman sprit.
He should have used the proper forum to complain against the umpire after the match. What will the juniors learn from him?
According to a report, Younis apologised to the PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan and showed willingness to rejoin the team.
As was expected the PCB accepted his apology and allowed him to participate in Pakistan Cup.
The question is: can Younis or any other Pakistani player behave like this in any form of cricket outside Pakistan? Obviously they won’t because they know that they will be banned.
There are lots of examples of umpires’ errors in domestic and international circuit. Some wrong decisions even change the course of the game, but it is part of the game.
In January this year, PCB imposed a one-match ban on Umar Akmal for violating the dress code in the final of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy.
In February this year, Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood was fined 15 percent of his match fee after a confrontation with an umpire during the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch.
In the same Test, Australia captain Steve Smith was also fined 30 percent of his match fee for his argument with on-field umpire Ranmore Martinez.
But Pakistan Cricket Board tried to resolve the issue created by Younis without taking any major step against him. The veteran batsman should have been banned for at least three matches according to rules. But it is believed that the PCB was lenient with him because it wants him to be part of the team for the tour of England in July this year.
It was not the first instance in his long career. Younis has been involved in controversies before. He was appointed vice-captain in 2005 before the tour to India and captain for 2007 Champions Trophy.
But a few days later he refused to accept captaincy. Mohammad Yousuf was appointed the captain. However, the new PCB Chief Dr Naseem Ashraf re-appointed him as captain.
After Inzamam stepped down in April 2007, Younis again turned down the offer to lead Pakistan.
In January 2009, he took over from Shoaib Malik, but in October the same year he resigned. The board rejected it, but Younis refused to take back his resignation and instead took a break from international cricket.