Stani Army

Has Yousuf waved goodbye to Pakistan cricket once and for all?

Mohammad Yousuf has decided to retire from international cricket after being banned indefinitely by the PCB. Whilst I felt harsh punishments were needed for Pakistan’s various dissenting players, I was surprised not only that Mohammad Yousuf was one of the players to be punished, but that he was punished so severely.

Both he and Younis Khan were banned indefinitely for “infighting” and “attitude”, which had a “bad influence” on the team, the PCB said. A reaction was expected from Yousuf and Younis, and of the two, it was the temperamental Younis who I expected to just give up and retire. But it seems that he is the one putting up the fight after lodging his appeal against the ban, whilst Yousuf has just given up and decided to quit.

Now that Yousuf has made his move, it is time for the PCB to respond. I do believe that by giving him an indefinite ban and not a permanent one, the PCB has left themselves an opportunity to respond. If they are to persuade him not to quit, they will have to either overturn his punishment or turn the indefinite ban into one which will run for only a short duration of time.

I can imagine that Mohammad Yousuf must be hurting at the moment. After being forced to take over the reins when there was no one else willing to, he was harshly criticised for the losses in Australia. The subsequent ban and his exclusion from those centrally contracted must have hit him hard.

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With its recent handing out of punishments, the PCB is trying to send out a message to its players that the days of player power are over. It is why I could not help wondering if they would have been better served handing out rolling monthly contracts until the end of the year rather than tie themselves down to the full one-year contracts, back-dated to January 2010.

I will not go into the details of who was deserving of which category here, as Osman Samiuddin has already done a good job of that, but I wanted to consider whether it would have been a good thing to give out monthly contracts instead.

Whilst a year may be a short time in terms of employment contracts, we have seen that in Pakistan cricket, it is a very long time. A rolling contract would have kept the players on their toes and on their best behaviour, knowing that the slightest misdemeanour would mean potentially losing their contract. It would also give them incentive to do well when playing in games. I think many of the players named would have breathed a sigh of relief after the contracts were announced.

One positive addition is the new stipend category for top domestic performers and youngsters that show potential. It is a good thing for the domestic players as it will encourage them to perform whilst keeping pressure on those that occupy the International first-team places. It is also good for the young, up-and-coming Pakistan players as it gives them an incentive to turn their cricket into a career to make a living out of rather than a hobby which they eventually give up on and end up vanishing into obscurity. I think this is a very important step in sorting out the structure of Pakistan cricket lower down the cricketing chain. It will certainly have a positive knock-on effect, I believe, in years to come.

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I’m not sure many of you have read Samir Chopra’s latest article on Cricinfo’s Different Strokes blog, but it is simply outrageous. Filled with sarcasm, insult, hatred, ignorance and a bit of jealousy, Chopra gives us his views on the recent banning and fining of Pakistan players by the PCB. He starts of questioning whether any of what has gone on is “even mildly interesting?”, but seems to ignore the obvious that it was interesting enough for him to write about it.

It was Aldous Huxley that once said “The pleasures of ignorance are as great, in their way, as the pleasures of knowledge” and it is evident from the article that Chopra gained great pleasure in telling us what he ‘knows’ about Pakistan cricket. Certainly, from his photo on Cricinfo, it is clear he is someone quite fond of himself generally. Having taken exception to his piece, I decided to write the following as a comment: “A shameful article by someone who quite clearly has a chip on his shoulder. How long have you kept that pent up inside you?”. Who thinks my comment was allowed through? Wrong, it wasn’t, but can anyone tell me why?

Here’s a taste of his work:
“There is a way of describing Pakistani cricket, which used to be tiresome but which has now started to strike me as patently offensive. This is the insistence that Pakistani cricket is charmingly erratic, wonderfully unpredictable, beautifully inconsistent, sublimely indisciplined. Right, I’m making these up. But you see the pattern. Pair a couple of adjectives which span the spectrum from the sublime to the sordid and have a go at describing Pakistani cricket. And I suspect the world of Pakistani cricket revels in this description, because this sort of indulgent tolerance gives it a free pass.”

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Ijaz Butt: Needs to be harsh in his punishment of the Pakistan players

Pakistan cricket hasn’t exactly flourished under the stewardship of PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt. Described as “too old” and “physically unfit” by the senate’s standing committee on sports, many have felt that such an important role was beyond this 72 year old. On the team side, factionalism, internal bickering and a losing habit have plagued his time in charge.

Not being the most astute of operators, Butt is known to put his foot in where it does not belong. His insensitive and defensive approach in his response to the Lahore attacks was just one example. Rather than express condolences and outline the PCBs response, he went on the attack asking the ICC to ban match referee Chris Broad, for his comments on the lack of security. His most recent faux pas was the mixed messages he gave out in a press conference regarding the subject of match fixing.

Politicians are not the only people Butt has fallen out with. Javed Miandad, Abdul Qadir and Aamer Sohail, ex-Pakistani greats, have all come and gone from various posts during Butt’s tenure. Despite his unpopularity, Butt is still managing to hold on to his position of Chairman for the simple reason that he has the support of the most important man; Patron of the board and President of the country, Asif Ali Zardari.

The recent inquiry into the failings of the team on the New Zealand and Australian tour have given Butt an opportunity to do some good for his popularity. It is believed that the inquiry committee recommended heavy fines and bans for some top Pakistan players, including Shahid Afridi, Rana Naved, Shoaib Malik and the Akmal brothers, for various misdemeanours such as deliberately under-performing, provoking discord and undermining the captain.

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