Senior players deliberately underperformed against Kiwis in 2009: Rana Naved
Former Pakistan pacer Rana Naved-ul-Hasan has revealed that a number of senior players deliberately underperformed during the 2009 ODI series against New Zealand in UAE. According to him, the players were disgruntled with Younis Khan's captaincy. The 42-year-old reiterated that he pulled out of the tour as he did not want to be a part of the group. Here is more.
"We lost two ODIs against NZ because some of the players involved deliberately didn't play well. I preferred to sit out of the tour, but informed Younis this was a conspiracy against him and that they wanted me to be part of it," Naved said.
Following the 2009 Champions Trophy, some of the senior players teamed up against then-skipper Younis Khan. They felt the former Pakistan batsman was too arrogant and hence vowed to oust him. "After he (Younis) became captain, his personality and attitude changed and some seniors (he didn't name them), who harboured ambitions of leading the side didn't want to play under him," Naved stated.
Despite winning the series opener by a mammoth 138 runs, Pakistan lost the ODI series 1-2. Naved was not a part of the Pakistani camp. The senior players in the team were Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Saeed Ajmal. Younis Khan resigned as captain in 2009 after the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports questioned Pakistan's Champions Trophy performance.
In 2010, Naved was banned by the Pakistan Cricket Board. The ban took place on the recommendation of an inquiry committee that looked into Pakistan's poor show during the 2009-10 Australia tour. However, his ban was lifted later that year.
