Islamabad, March 10: Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt on Wednesday took a U-turn hours after imposing lifetime bans on former Pakistan cricket captains Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf and said that the two batsmen can be considered for national duty.

“The two (Yousuf and Younis Khan) have not been banned for life. They can be considered any time for selection,” Mr Butt said in Karachi.
Hours earlier, the PCB chose to implement the recommendations of an inquiry committee to also hand out 12-month bans to Shoaib Malik and Rana Naveedul Hassan and fine Shahid Afridi and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal Rs 3 million and Umar Akmal Rs 2 million (Pakistani currency).
The previous PCB statement had said, “Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan, keeping in view their infighting which resulted in bringing down the whole team, their attitude has a trickle-down effect which is a bad influence for the whole team, should not be part of national team in any format.”
Pakistan lost every match against Australia in their three-Test, five one-day and one Twenty20 series.
The PCB said the six-member inquiry committee, headed by its chief operating officer Wasim Bari, had based its recommendations on information gathered during several hearings with the players and reports from the team management.
The PCB action had come as part of a major crackdown on player indiscipline as it believes “infighting” was partly responsible for the team’s abject defeat in Australia.
Younis Khan had stepped down as captain in November, just prior to the series against Australia, after suggesting he had lost command of his players. Yousuf was subsequently installed as captain but Pakistan lost all three Tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 international on the tour.
“If you look at the media release, we have not used the word ban, but merely stated that these players would not be part of the national team in the future,” PCB spokesman Nadeem Sawar had said earlier on Wednesday. However, he had added: “At this stage it would seem that their international careers are over. They will not be playing international cricket.”
Pakistan’s tour of Australia was also marred by a ball-tampering row involving Shahid Afridi who was fined Rs 3 million and placed on probation for six months over the incident, while the Akmal brothers, Kamran and Umar, were fined a total of Rs 5 million on grounds of indiscipline.
The PCB statement added, “The recommendations of the committee will go a long way to arrest the continuing decline of Pakistan cricket and improve the state of cricket in Pakistan. It is a landmark exercise which is an outcome of the labour and hard work of the members of the committee.”
Mr Sarwar said a total of 13 people, including players and team officials, had been questioned by the committee.
Tafazzul Rizvi, who sat on the inquiry team, said Yousuf and Younis had the right to appeal and former captain Rashid Latif expected them to win their cases.
Another former captain, Inzamam-ul Haq, was also scathing of the earlier decision. “Why was action not taken earlier against these players? Why did the board keep quiet for so long when the team was on tour,” Haq asked.

Shafqat Ali