Former cricketer Rashid Latif believes legendary batsman Younis Khan has been appointed the batting coach of the Pakistan team in order to protect head coach-cum-chief selector, Misbahul Haq, from any criticism if Men in Green’s batting performance is below-par on the England tour.
Pakistan is scheduled to take on England in three Tests and three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), which will be played in August-September.
“Let me tell you about the politics of cricket. Younis Khan has come as protection for Misbahul Haq. If batting fails and team loses, then blame will go on Younis and not Misbah,” said Latif on CricketBaaz’s YouTube page.
Earlier in 2018, Younis left a level three coaching course abruptly after claiming that he was not provided proper accommodation by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore. However, Latif is adamant that the board was to blame for the unfortunate incident.
“Younis doesn’t work with anyone unless he trusts them. PCB was responsible for the NCA incident. The board knows how to break someone. They didn’t wanted Younis, so they tried to corner him in order to make him angry,” he added.
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However, the newly-appointed batting coach is excited to start a new partnership with Misbah and is aiming to start from where he left off.
The duo brought the curtain down on their illustrious careers after Pakistan secured their first ever Test series win in the Caribbean, in 2017. Together the prolific pair scored 3,213 runs at an average of 68.36, the highest by any Pakistan pair in Test cricket.
“We will start our partnership from where we left off. We retired from cricket at the same time and on a winning note and would like to do something similar in the coaching department as well,” said Younis. “I would like to carry on Misbah’s coaching philosophy, as he has been working with them for the past one year, so that players are not left double-minded.”
Younis, 42, scored 10,099 runs at over 52 in 118 Tests from 2000 to 2017. This included a career-best 313 against Sri Lanka in Karachi in 2009, which lifted him to number one position in the ICC rankings.