Butt in a catch-22 situation over Younis
On Monday the Pakistan board is expected to take a decision on the future Younis Khan's captaincy after he offered to resign following speculations over the team's exit from the Champions Trophy
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
On Monday the Pakistan board is expected to take a decision on the future Younis Khan's captaincy after he offered to resign following speculations over the team's exit from the Champions Trophy. In the Pakistan daily News, Khalid Hussain writes that board president Ijaz Butt is in a catch-22 situation since he was the one who had lobbied for Younis to be made captain in the first place.
... it's not easy even for the most powerful man in Pakistan cricket. Even with his sweeping powers, Butt cannot just take this decision and solidify Younis's hold on team captaincy. There are too many other factors involved. Sources told 'The News' that following the Champions Trophy, around nine or ten members of the Pakistan team have met Butt and told him that they are unhappy playing under Younis. A couple of players confided in this correspondent that the atmosphere in the dressing room that was already far from perfect under Inzamam-ul-Haq and then Shoaib Malik, failed to improve much under Younis either. They say that even the title-winning triumph in the World Twenty20 championship in England failed to really unite the players. Some senior players were unhappy with the Board's choice to have Younis as captain and never really supported their new leader right from the outset.
Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo