Some players deliberately did not play well in 2009 NZ series: Rana Naved-ul-Hasan

Controversies in Pakistan cricket is something that hasn’t been too rare. Every few months later, we get to know about some revelation that is related to some incident and the controversy sparks up. Former Pakistan pacer Rana Naved-ul-Hasan has now come up with a revelation that could possibly shed light on an infamous duration within Pakistan cricket.

Speaking to a local news channel, Rana Naved recalled the 2009 ODI series between Pakistan and New Zealand in the United Arab Emirates. Pakistan won the first ODI comprehensively but went on to lose the next two matches. According to the former pacer, some of the players deliberately didn’t play well. He further said that they did because they weren’t happy with the then skipper, Younis Khan.

I had informed Younis Khan that this was a conspiracy against him: Rana Naved-ul-Hasan

“We lost two ODI matches against New Zealand in the UAE during 2009 because some of the players involved deliberately did not play well,” Rana said as quoted by India Today.

Former ex-fast bowler then went on to say that he went up to the captain and informed him about this. Naved also said that he preferred to sit out of the tour as the players wanted him to join in the conspiracy against the captain.

“I preferred to sit out of the tour. But I had informed Younis Khan that this was a conspiracy against you and that they wanted me to be part of it,” he said.

The former pacer revealed that the senior players didn’t like the way Younis was behaving after he became captain. He revealed that it was after 2009 Champions Trophy when everyone came together and hatched a plan against Younis. Rana also maintained that the problem was against Younis Khan, the captain and not Younis Khan, the person. Rana in fact said that Younis was deemed as “arrogant and abusive” by some senior players.

“After he (Younis) became captain, his personality and attitude changed and some seniors (he didn’t name them), who harboured ambitions of leading the side didn’t want to play under him”, the 42-year-old pacer said.

The senior players, at the time, were Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Saeed Ajmal and Misbah-ul-Haq. However, Rana Naved didn’t take any names.

Younis Khan had a successful stint as the captain of the Pakistan team. He was the skipper when the side lifted the 2009 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Khan eventually resigned as the captain and never led Pakistan again after the aforementioned series against New Zealand.