Younis turns down Pakistan captaincy

[Armadillo]

Interesting to note also that the PCB have blocked Umar Gul's move to Gloucestershire and told Mohammad Asif not to accept a county contract for this season.

I'm pretty pleased they did that actually. Whenever our bowlers go out there, the counties always overbowl them ridiculously and they end up getting injured for an important international series (SA in this case).

 

[PhoenixFire]

Is he skippering Yorkshire?

 

[social]

I'm pretty disapointed in Younis. This is the second time he's turned down the captaincy. I don't buy his "scared for my family" excuse. Every Pakistani Captain, including Imran, has had to deal with the high expectations of Pakistani fans. Every one of them have had their effigies burned by a few nuts. No one's family has ever been harmed. I think there are other reasons for Younis' decision. Perhaps he felt he didn't have the support in the dressing room. Perhaps he didn't want the added pressure. In any case, I don't want the PCB to ever offer him the position again. In fact, he shouldn't even be the VC. Those positions should goto players that WANT to lead and welcome the challenge. So who are those players? The pickings are mighty slim unfortunately. Shoaib Malik would be my choice. He's young, fit (by Pak standards), and energetic. Woolmer thought enough of him to promote him as a future Captain, which speaks volumes in my book. I hope he's given a chance to lead.

Right on the money

 

[Fusion]

And what if they did the opposite to what the PCB said not to do? Hire goons to come around and break their legs?

PCB has a legitimate reason to block Gul and Asif from signing with counties at this time. Both are coming off injuries and PCB are worried they'd get over-worked and won't be available for Pakistan later. It's not like PCB is putting a permanent ban on them playing overseas or something. They're being reasonable here IMO.

 

[haroon510]

i think he was right and if it was me in place of of younis i woud have turn down the offere also. it is a big pressure to lead ur country and then if u fail espacially in subcontinants where they never take cricket as a game, u would get the lebal of match fixer. why risk ur career for that.
i am 75 percent sure that his decision is based on his family's safety. we hve seen it in tv that how pakistani fans get angry over one cricket game. it is just a game and in game one has to lose and one has to win.
as far as dressing room politics goes if there is any i think it is good that he turned the captiancy down becuase of that. we don't want pakistani team to have a captain who doesn't like half of them team or who isn't liked by half of the team. if pakistanis are to make a good team they have to make a united team. the key to win in cricket is unity. if the team isn't united they can't win matches based on individual performance of one batsman or bowler.
i also think his decision of retiring from one day cricket is a good decision. he clearly isn't a good one day cricketer. i really wanted him to focuse in test and should have been droped from one day side.
the new captain should be shoaib malik and vice captain should be shahid afridi.

 

[Nishant]

the new captain should be shoaib malik and vice captain should be shahid afridi.

But are they really players that you would want to captain ur side. Captains are meant to lead from the front and set a good example of understanding and awareness of the game. Afridi doesnt do that IMO at all.....he pulls off a stunning performance, with luck, IMO, once in a long time. He's not even a regular in the side...he should be dropped TBH! Malik, on the other hand is not too bad...But y would u not make Yousaf a captain? Is it because he is too old?

 

[nightprowler10]

I used to cringe at the thought of Malik leading the Pakistani team after that incident with the Stallions. But I'm starting to think that perhaps he deserves a chance. Only in ODIs though, which shouldn't be a problem as we don't play another test match until September or something.

 

[Nishant]

I used to cringe at the thought of Malik leading the Pakistani team after that incident with the Stallions. But I'm starting to think that perhaps he deserves a chance. Only in ODIs though, which shouldn't be a problem as we don't play another test match until September or something.

What u are saying is true....but i always prefer to have a captain that does the job in both forms of the game. Dont u think that it may be slightly weird to change captain for a different form?

 

[nightprowler10]

What u are saying is true....but i always prefer to have a captian that does the job in both forms of the game. Dont u think that it may be slightly weird to change captian for a different form?

That's not what I meant, though my fault as I seem to have worded it wrong. Pakistan don't play another test until late this year. So Malik should be captain in all the ODIs we play leading up to the first major test series, and make him captain full-time depending on how he goes in the ODIs.

 

[Nishant]

That's not what I meant, though my fault as I seem to have worded it wrong. Pakistan don't play another test until late this year. So Malik should be captain in all the ODIs we play leading up to the first major test series, and make him captain full-time depending on how he goes in the ODIs.

yh...thats a good point then!

 

[Fusion]

I personally would never want to captain India or Pakistan if I were offered tbh. It's bad enough having to deal with everything as a player..being a captain is a whole another level of crap you have to deal with. And for what? Whatever you win, if you lose a game in an important tournament or series, you suck. Not worth it IMO.

Plus, both the countries have a very dubious notion of 'team', and eventually you end up babysitting a bunch of guys who don't really care all that much.

I'm surprised to read this from you. You're usually of the opinion that "they're professional athletes and should be able to handle pressure". You know what Captain I think has the most pressure in the world? Ponting. Think about it. Aus are expected to win every single game. Not only are they expected to win, people are disapointed if the margin of victory is not large enough. If Aus lose two consecutive games, much less a series, the whole world starts talking about their "decline". You don't think Ponting feels stressed due to these absurd expectations? I'm positive he does. But he's a leader and he chose to take on the challenge. He doesn't whine about it like a little girl a.k.a Younis.

Look, every key position in sports has unfair amount of pressure. Whether it's the goalie in Soccer or the Quaterback in Football, they get too much credit for the win, and too much blame for the loss. Same thing with the Captain's position in Cricket. So who would want to take on such a role? Those who are not afraid of a challenge, don't buckle under pressure, and want the glory and power. Obviosly that's not Younis. Again, I don't buy his "afraid for my family" excuse. Did he just start playing for Pakistan? Where is this surprise at the hostile reaction coming from? That kind of stuff has always been there, and he's dealt with it before. So let's stop with the "my feelings are hurt" routine. I would have more respect for him if he simply said he doesn't want the Captaincy without making childish excuses.

 

[Pratters]

I was watching the ESPN show Taking Guard a bit back in which Bhogle previews and reviews world cup matches each day with Akram and Shastri and I thought Akram was spot on. He didn't buy the whole pressure excuse either. He said that PCB shouldn't offer Younis Khan captaincy from now on given he has refused it twice. Some one else should be groomed for the job now.

The negative aspect of this whole thing is that the time he was vice captain, some one else could have been and gained experience from it.

 

[adharcric]

I'm surprised to read this from you. You're usually of the opinion that "they're professional athletes and should be able to handle pressure". You know what Captain I think has the most pressure in the world? Ponting. Think about it. Aus are expected to win every single game. Not only are they expected to win, people are disapointed if the margin of victory is not large enough. If Aus lose two consecutive games, much less a series, the whole world starts talking about their "decline". You don't think Ponting feels stressed due to these absurd expectations? I'm positive he does. But he's a leader and he chose to take on the challenge. He doesn't whine about it like a little girl a.k.a Younis.

Look, every key position in sports has unfair amount of pressure. Whether it's the goalie in Soccer or the Quaterback in Football, they get too much credit for the win, and too much blame for the loss. Same thing with the Captain's position in Cricket. So who would want to take on such a role? Those who are not afraid of a challenge, don't buckle under pressure, and want the glory and power. Obviosly that's not Younis. Again, I don't buy his "afraid for my family" excuse. Did he just start playing for Pakistan? Where is this surprise at the hostile reaction coming from? That kind of stuff has always been there, and he's dealt with it before. So let's stop with the "my feelings are hurt" routine. I would have more respect for him if he simply said he doesn't want the Captaincy without making childish excuses.

Gun post. Being a captain myself, I completely agree.

 

[Craig]

PCB has a legitimate reason to block Gul and Asif from signing with counties at this time. Both are coming off injuries and PCB are worried they'd get over-worked and won't be available for Pakistan later. It's not like PCB is putting a permanent ban on them playing overseas or something. They're being reasonable here IMO.

Is that for the whole season or say at a later point in the season?

Anyway if I were a County Chairman I wouldn't want Asif in my County squad. But then that comes from my not-so-high tolerence of drugs in sport.

 

[pup11]

I completly agree with Fusion, i think Ponting is doing the most thankless jobs in the world (as the Aussie captain), because he is expected to win every game with the kind of team he has and if he does something good as a captain it certainly goes unnoticed.


Younis certainly doesn't deserve the captaincy (now), it should be an honour for anyone to lead his country but Younis has too many unrealistic terms & conditions to do the job.

 

[adharcric]

Actually, I am not too sure about that part. Dravid's job is tougher than Ponting's IMO - that doesn't mean I wouldn't take it if I was given the chance.

 

[adharcric]

Younis certainly doesn't deserve the captaincy (now), it should be an honour for anyone to lead his country but Younis has too many unrealistic terms & conditions to do the job.

That's not fair. Younis may have refused the captaincy because of the crap he gets from disruptive elements (ie Afridi). If that is the real reason, fair enough. If the family issue is the real reason, fair enough. Can we really criticize Younis if he refused the job for the first reason above?

 

[pasag]

I was reading the papers from a couple of days ago and it said Khan wanted full powers if he would take on the captaincy. Now from what I understand, he got the full power from the PCB and he still doesn't want it. This leads to the assumption that he only requested the full powers because he thought he wouldn't get it and therefore had the opportunity to come out looking pretty good and saving quite abit of face without having to reject the captaincy outright which wouldn't sit well with alot of people. However it backfired and now he uses the excuse of fearing for his family. IMO.

Anyways, I can sympathise with him. Some people just don't want that extra responsibility and focus that comes with being a captain. I don't blame him and I respect his decision although he should have never have taken the VC if he never wanted to be captain because as others have rightfully said it should have been given to whoever they wanted to groom as Inzi's replacement.

 

[Nishant]

Anyways, I can sympathise with him. Some people just don't want that extra responsibility and focus that comes with being a captain. I don't blame him and I respect his decision although he should have never have taken the VC if he never wanted to be captain because as others have rightfully said it should have been given to whoever they wanted to groom as Inzi's replacement.

yh...i think that his decision is fair enough...but the PCB should stop giving him too much importance frm now though...like offer him vice captaincy or something like that.

 

[nightprowler10]

The negative aspect of this whole thing is that the time he was vice captain, some one else could have been and gained experience from it.

I don't blame him and I respect his decision although he should have never have taken the VC if he never wanted to be captain because as others have rightfully said it should have been given to whoever they wanted to groom as Inzi's replacement.

This is the one point about this whole fiasco that takes the piss out of me, tbh. If you didn't want the responsibility why the **** did you take the vice captaincy in the first place. Almost two years grooming gone to waste because he chickened out. Harsh assessment perhaps, but its just the way it comes off.