Yousuf slams PCB for not standing up to BCCI

Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan batsman who recently signed up to the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), has slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for their subservience to the Indian board, particularly in their ongoing policy of life bans on ICL players.

Some hope had emerged for Pakistan players involved with the ICL to have their bans lifted after PCB director general Javed Miandad openly questioned the rationale of the ban. He called on all cricket boards to resolve the issue and restore normalcy, especially in Pakistan, which has lost several cricketers to the ICL.

"I just say the Pakistan board should take its own independent decision. It should not toe the line of the Indians," Yousuf said in an interview on a popular show on Geo Super, a local sports channel. "What have they given us? They even refused to tour the country recently."

"There is no such ruling from the ICC on ICL players. Tell me are we committing some crime going to play in the league? I say there is nothing to stop the board from lifting the ban on us if it wants to. Javed Miandad is now director general and he should keep his word."

Yousuf, for the second time in as many months, also launched a stinging attack on the current Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik and the selectors for not treating him with enough respect. Yousuf was never considered for the captaincy at any stage and was omitted from Pakistan's Twenty20 plans. He again called into question Malik's qualifications for the captaincy.

"Tell me on what grounds did they decide I was not fit for Twenty20 cricket? What was the criteria for deciding this?" Yousuf said. "Tell me how did Shoaib Malik deserve to be the captain? How can you make a player a captain who is not certain of a place in the national Test or one-day team."

Ironically, Yousuf is currently ranked No.2 in the ICC Test rankings despite being ineligible to play international cricket and despite Pakistan not playing a single Test last year.