Controvery and Pakistan cricketers never seem to leave each other. The same is the case of the camaraderie or the lack of it within the team. Yousuf has been training his gun left, right and centre and after Moin Khan, Shoaib Mallik is not enjoying this kind of negative publicity.
Even as the nation celebrates its cricket’s best patch in nearly a year, war of words are rarely spared between players of the Pakistan team. After alleging that Moin Khan was instrumental in leading him towards the ICL barely two months, Mohammad Yousuf has blamed the supposedly shoddy manner in which seniors were treated in the Pakistan dressing room for his eventually going back to his contract with the ICL.
But Shoaib Mallik, who had a reprieve this week after intense scrutiny over his role as captain of Pakistan, is not taking Yousuf’s accusations lying down. According to him, Yousuf’s advice was always sought, his presence acknowledged and his contribution, never sidelined. Yet Yousuf has had his grouse with the Pakistan Cricket Board and his own team mates.
Strangely enough Yousuf is now playing with a Pakistan squad in the guise of the Lahore Badshahs and the Pakistani team, alongside some of the same Pakistan players who did not see eye to eye in the Pakistan dressing room. Needless to say, Moin Khan is the coach of the Lahore Badshahs.
It is indeed with the kind of divisive ideas that these players harbour, how not one but two teams have performed so exceedingly well over the last weekend?
Incidentally Mallik himself is not stranger to controversy. The Pakistan skipper, who is said to be dating Bollywood actress and former Miss India, Sayali Bhagat, was embroiled in a fiasco that involved allegations of marrying their daughter by the Siddiqui family in Hyderabad. Though Mallik vehemently denied it, there were also conflicting reports that he did indeed enter a marriage contract but was misled about the girl’s identity.
Crickblog chronicles of Yousuf’s saga:
Yousuf Back Again with ICL – But Who’s Counting!
