From bigstarcricket.com News Just as we were thinking the Indian Cricket League was going to be brimming with nobody’s and has-beens, Mohammed Yousuf was unveiled. This is bad news.
If he gets the ban that is being threatened by the Pakistan Cricket Board, it is bad news for Pakistan, bad news for world cricket and bad news for the player, who may well be a few U.S. dollars wealthier for the time being but in the long run he will find himself vilified by unforgiving Pakistan supporters and marginalised by selectors forever. There will be little sympathy from the masses that he made this decision after being unjustifiably dropped. In Yousuf’s defence he clearly felt betrayed by selectors that stupidly omitted him from the Twenty20 World Cup squad. Ok, he is a player that could bat for your life in a Test match but don’t tell me he doesn’t have the quality to adapt to the 20-over format. He can play the big shots as well as most. His fielding is inferior and he would probably admit that himself but he deserved better than this treatment as Jacques Kallis did (that’s another story – I bet South African administrators are fearing his name may also be the next big one unveiled). Inzamam-ul-Haq’s ‘defection’ – as the establishment sees it – is fair enough as he was not offered a retainer contract by the Pakistan Cricket Board, he has to earn a living somehow and he was keen to play cricket and I mean more serious action than for the Lahore Gymkhana club side. If Inzy should discover this is now the end of his Test career because of the move that would be very sad and especially as he needs only 20 runs to pass Javed Miandad to become Pakistan’s highest Test run-scorer - he also wants 10,000 Test runs. Notwithstanding his experience would be crucial for a Pakistani summer that includes series against South Africa, India away and Australia. However, Inzy’s loss, sad as it would certainly be, would seemingly have been cushioned by the existing experience of Younis Khan and Yousuf. But when you subtract Yousuf’s name from the Pakistan batting line-up as well, this presents a major hole in the middle-order and will undoubtedly be exploited and preyed upon by Brett Lee, Makhaya Ntini, Zaheer Khan and Co. over the next few months if the situation does not change. On the positive side, there is boundless talent in Pakistan that could see able players like Faisal Iqbal, Asim Kamal and Hasan Raza come in and perform adequately or better (if they do not follow the golden path to Zee’s millions across the Waga Border). But let’s not sugar coat the bitter pill. Younis Khan is a world-class batsman but he would be a solitary figure in the line-up as the lone world-class batsman. Let’s not forget Yousuf scored more Test runs than anybody has ever managed in a calendar year in 2006. To lose this ability and skill at his age (33 this month) would be a great shame. Pakistanis have been relishing this upcoming season so much since the World Cup debacle. It was a campaign that, after six months of transition and time to heal the wounds of failure and pain at losing coach Bob Woolmer, presented an opportunity to start afresh. But at the moment I fear for them without such experience that will be needed. Pakistan took a young team to India in 2005 and managed to draw 1-1 but who produced the goods in Bangalore when they won the third Test? Younis Khan and Inzamam. The bowling attack is potent, for sure, but it only needs an injury or two to deprive them Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul or Mohammad Sami and all of a sudden the batting looks thin and bowling would be in the hands of Danish Kaneria too much. This column is not meant to be in opposition at what Zee is doing. You cannot stop the sport from developing and revolutionizing but what I am saying is that the situation is sad that such great talent may be lost forever at the highest level just because of jealousies over which organisation is offering good money to players. Cricketers are professionals not mercenaries and it is only natural they will seek to earn their fortune for plying their trade if an offer is made. The only thing I would say is that in the Kerry Packer era - the last time such a breakaway event occurred in the late seventies - players were paid poorly by their Boards, but this is no longer the case – at least not in countries like Australia and England. Boards are earning many millions from the global game through television revenue and whether enough of this is finding its way to the players in countries like Pakistan should probably be investigated. Richard Sydenham is Managing Editor of Bigstarcricket.com Send your comments on this column to fans@bigstarcricket.com and see them published on the site |