Some Senior Players Didn’t Want Younis Khan To Be Their Captain: Rana Naved-ul-Hasan
May 4, 2020 at 2:07 PM
Controversies surrounded Younis Khan’s captaincy period. In 2009, he was handed over the permanent captaincy position in the Pakistan team, but he resigned from the post after a couple of months because the allegations of match-fixing surrounded the team. Former cricketer Rana Naved-ul-Hasan has revealed that some senior players didn’t want Younis as their captain, so they underperformed.
Younis Khan had played the role of substitute captain but was handed over the permanent role in January 2009. Under his captaincy, Pakistan had also reached the semi-final of Champions Trophy 2009 but could not win the match.
Rana Naved-ul-Hasan reveals a surprising fact about Younis Khan’s captaincy:
Former cricketer Rana, who was not the part of that tournament, recalled that he had told Younis that some players didn’t want him to be the captain and they were purposely not performing.
“We lost two ODI matches against New Zealand in the UAE during 2009 because some of the players involved deliberately did not play well,” Rana told a local news channel.
“I preferred to sit out of the tour (Champions Trophy 2009). But I had informed Younis Khan that this was a conspiracy against you and that they wanted me to be part of it,” he said.
“After he (Younis) became captain, his personality and attitude changed and some seniors (he didn’t name them), who harboured ambitions of leading the side didn’t want to play under him,” he added.
Younis Khan resigned from captaincy role:
After the Champions Trophy, on 13 October 2009, Khan resigned from captaincy position because the team was charged for match-fixing. However, after the investigation, the team was given a clean chit, and PCB asked Younis to take back the role. Later, Younis captained the team for a three-match ODI series against New Zealand scheduled in UAE, but the team lost the series by 1-2. He took a break after this ODI series and never retook the captaincy role.