Daily Times

LAHORE: Former Pakistan captain Younus Khan kept his tradition of remaining in the news for all the wrong reasons on Saturday when he quit the ongoing Pakistan Cup, national one-day tournament, in Faisalabad in protest of ‘substandard umpiring’ in the tournament. The 38-year-old Younus, leading the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa team, was extremely critical of the umpires after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s loss to Islamabad. And even though his side defeated Punjab by two runs on Friday, the veteran Pakistan star, who captained Pakistan to their sole World T20 title in 2009, was once again unhappy with the match officials. Younus, after the second match, threatened the reserve umpire Rashid Riaz to raise their standards of decision delivery.

Rashid took his complain to the match referee Azizur Rehman who forwarded a notice to Younus. He was asked to appear before the hearing and deny or defend the charges which were levelled by the on field umpires with the consensus of off the field umpires.. However, Younus refused to attend and the match referee was informed accordingly. Things turned ugly when Younus was fined 50 percent of his match fee for his comments about the umpiring in the Pakistan Cup. Younus, then, left the tournament in protest. Younus was found to have breached the article 2.2.8 of the code, namely: “Using language or gesture(s) that is seriously obscene, seriously offensive or of a seriously insulting nature to another Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other third person during a Match.” Opener Ahmad Shahzad has taken over the reins from Younus. Meanwhile, social media is abuzz with the news. Some calling Younus immature while others second his opinion about the umpires.