LAHORE, Pakistan (ANI): Former Pakistan skipper Mohammad Yousuf is likely to retire from all forms of cricket after the Pakistan Cricket Board dropped him from its list of centrally contracted players, sources have said. Sources said Yousuf has decided to retire from all versions of the game as he was disheartened by the PCB decision.
“After serving Pakistan cricket for so long, he is disheartened at the way the selectors and board have treated him.
He is disappointed with the fact that no one in the board or any selector even bothered to talk to him and find out about his future plans and fitness,” the Daily Times quoted the source, as saying.
The PCB has offered central contracts to 23 cricketers for the second half of this year.
Several leading players including Yousuf, former captain Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Danish Kaneria were excluded from the list, which means that these players will not be able to represent Pakistan for the next 12 months.
Yousuf had scored 109, 68 and 72 runs in his past three innings for Warwickshire in the English county championship in May.
He last played for Pakistan against South Africa in the United Arab Emirates in 2010 but had to return home midway due to fitness issues.
“Yousuf feels that the national selectors have now given a clear message to senior players that they don’t want them in the team so he has decided it is better to say goodbye to all forms of cricket,” the source added.
The source also said some local teams had approached Yousuf with lucrative offers to play for them as a guest player in the ongoing tournaments in Karachi but he declined the offer citing religious obligations. (ANI)