View Single Post
  #19  
Old November 4, 2008, 06:43 AM
mahbubH's Avatar
mahbubH mahbubH is offline
Cricket Legend
 
Join Date: February 12, 2004
Location: Dhaka
Favorite Player: Giggs, Gower, and Wasim!
Posts: 4,729

Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf has joined the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League (ICL), in a move that could jeopardise his international future. He is now unlikely to play in the three one-dayers against the West Indies, the Pakistan Cricket Board said on Monday.

"His wife told us on the telephone that he has left for India today to play in the ICL," PCB director of operations Zakir Khan said.

"But we will wait for facts and figures before taking any action against him."

The PCB has a strict policy of banning all players who have joined the ICL - a Twenty20 league which is bankrolled by India's largest media group, Zee television, and not recognised by world cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council.

Yousuf had been set to join the ICL when it was set up in 2007 after he was left out of the Pakistan squad for the World Twenty20 tournament.

But after talks with former PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf, he agreed to forego the move and remain eligible for Pakistan.

However, several former Pakistan players, including ex-skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, all-rounders Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood, pacemen Shabbir Ahmed and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, and opener Imran Farhat, are still playing in the ICL and are thus barred from national selection by the PCB.

Yousuf left for New Delhi on Monday from Lahore just hours after he was named in a 15-strong Pakistan squad for the three-match one-day series against the West Indies in Abu Dhabi from 12-16 November.
"He did not inform us about his travel plans to India and we are trying to contact him directly," Khan added.
Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam, recently appointed to succeed Geoff Lawson, said the team has enough reserve players to replace Yousuf for the series in Abu Dhabi.

Opener Nasir Jamshed will have a fitness test before departing as he has just recovered from a bout of malaria.
__________________
West Indies
Pakistan-India-Australia-SriLanka-SouthAfrica-NewZealand-WestIndies-England
Reply With Quote