Former Pakistan bowler says players underperformed in 2009 in a ‘conspiracy’ against captain Younis Khan – Report
According to a report from Cricket Pakistan, Naved told a local Pakistan news channel that the players did not give their best on the field as they were not comfortable playing under the, then, skipper Younis Khan.
Former Pakistan fast bowler Rana Navd-ul-Hasan has reportedly revealed that some of the team’s players underperformed deliberately in the ODI series against New Zealand in the UAE back in 2009. According to a report in Cricket Pakistan, Rana told a Pakistani news channel that the players did not give their best on the field as they were not comfortable playing under then skipper Younis Khan.
“We lost two ODI matches against New Zealand in UAE during 2009 because some of the players involved deliberately did not play well, and I sat out that tour,” Naved said.
He further explained that he dropped out of the tour because he had already told Younis Khan that there is a “conspiracy” against him. “I did not play because I had told Younis Khan that this was the conspiracy against you and that I am also a part of that plot,” he said.
Naved added that Younis had changed after he was given the captaincy role, and there were some senior members of the team who involved him in the affair to further their aims. “This was not a rebellion against Younis Khan. He was a good cricketer and I did play alongside him so there were no issues except that when he became captain, he became a different person,” he said.
“Some seniors, and I won’t name names as they may have had aspirations of being captains themselves, got us involved in this whole affair as well to further their aims. We were about seven to eight people involved in this,” he added.
Naved further added that there were some big names of Pakistan cricket who were involved in the whole scheme. “We were all called into a room and an oath of allegiance taken and the people in that room were some big names of Pakistan cricket. If I mention those names, then they will get angry with me,” he said.
“They said we don’t want him to be removed but we would like the PCB Chairman to reason with Younis Khan as he does not take the advice of seniors as captain and does what he feels likes doing,” he added.
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“I went along with this thinking that if this is the only matter and the PCB Chairman tells him that, then I don’t have an issue with this,” he further said.
Pakistan suffered a 2-1 defeat in the three-match ODI series, despite winning the first game by 138 runs. They lost the 2nd match by 64 runs and then suffered a 7-run defeat in the third ODI.
