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Pakistan’s experienced batsman Younis Khan is doubtful for next month’s three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi, ‘The News’ learnt here on Saturday. Younis, who refused to captain Pakistan after the World Cup disaster, is currently in England playing for Yorkshire in the county championship. According to sources, Younis would inform the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) about his availability for the Abu Dhabi assignment today (Sunday).

Sources told this correspondent that a PCB official talked to Younis on the telephone on Saturday to check whether the prolific batsman was planning to return home ahead of the series against Sri Lanka to be played from May 9-15.

“Younis was playing a match and he told the (PCB) official that he would inform him about his plans on Sunday,” said the source.

Younis flopped in the World Cup along with other top Pakistani batsmen as his team crashed out of the competition at the first hurdle.

He was supposed to take over from Inzamam-ul-Haq as the new Pakistan captain after the World Cup but rejected a PCB offer saying that the job was too stressful. Pakistan later appointed young all-rounder Shoaib Malik as their new captain.

Pakistani selectors are expected to make a number of changes in their team in the wake of the World Cup failure but sources say that unlike India, who dropped experienced batsmen Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, Pakistan will not take such a risk.

The national selectors, sources say, want to carry on with top players like Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf in order to avoid a whitewash at the hands of the in-form Sri Lankans in Abu Dhabi.
Source:The News