Senior batsman Younis Khan has triggered another controversy in Pakistan cricket by returning home midway from the ongoing Pakistan Cup one-day tournament in Faisalabad.
A reliable source said that Younis left the tournament after match referee Aziz Rehman fined and summoned him for a disciplinary hearing. He was captaining the Khyber Pakhtunkhawa outfit. “Younis left because he felt his reputation was being tarnished at this stage of his career, and this was not acceptable to him,” the source said. “Younis was not happy with the standard of umpiring and when the referee summoned him for a disciplinary hearing over some remarks he had made to fourth umpire Rashid Riaz after Friday’s match, he decided to leave the tournament in protest,” another source confirmed.
PK team manager Mukhtar Hussain confirmed that Younis had left and that Test batsman Ahmed Shehzad would now lead the team in the prestigious competition.
“Younis first had a run-in with umpire Shozab during the match against Federal Areas Islamabad,” the source said. “One appeal was turned down against FAI captain Misbah ul-Haq and Younis was also not happy with the general standard of umpiring. When he asked the umpire why he didn’t give Misbah out, he got a funny reply,” the source said. After the match, which KPK lost narrowly, Younis said his team would have won the tie if umpiring had been good.
“The matter heated up further when the match referee requested Younis to go easy on the umpires during their next match against Sindh on Friday. Younis, in a discussion with the fourth umpire later, gave him a piece of his mind and told him what needed to be done to improve the umpiring standards,” the source said, adding that the fourth umpire then complained to the match referee about Younis’ conduct. “The referee summoned Younis for a hearing which the senior player refused to attend, following which the referee fined him 50 per cent of his match fee.”
