Younus Khan catapulted to category A

PCB relents after former captain’s refusal to sign central contract.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has ‘amended’ its rules for allocating contracts to national players, thereby facilitating the inclusion of former captain Younus Khan in category A.

The decision was announced through a media release on Wednesday, according to which PCB Chairman Najam Sethi ordered the amendment of the rules introduced in this regard.

“Sethi has taken notice of the rules relating to the central contracts of players, in which a renowned and star player like Younus has been placed in category B, and ordered a suitable amendment to rectify the situation,” stated the press release.



Subsequently, the cricket board has inducted a new clause that states, “Any player who has played over 300 matches in all three formats of the game, and has captained in all three formats, will be placed in category A.”

The Mardan-born player has played in 89 Tests, 253 ODIs and 25 T20Is and has led the team in nine, 21 and eight matches respectively in the three formats.

He also captained Pakistan in the triumphant ICC Twenty20 World Cup campaign in 2009.

Meanwhile, Sethi feels that the committee formed to devise the central contract clauses did not take into consideration all relevant issues.

“The committee comprising Zakir Khan, Moin Khan and Mohammad Akram did a good job in framing the rules,” said Sethi. “However, it did not sufficiently address all issues, especially fitness and past performance, whereby a class player like Younus was a fitting candidate for category A.”

All through the last one week, the PCB had been trying to persuade Younus to sign the central contract initially offered to him; however, the seasoned batsman refused to comply.

After the announcement on Wednesday, it seems that the board was forced to go Younus’ way after failing to change his mind.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2014.

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