KARACHI: Senior batsman Younis Khan has triggered another controversy in Pakistan cricket by returning home midway from the ongoing Pakistan Cup one-day tournament in Faisalabad.
A reliable source told PTI that Younis had left the tournament after match referee Aziz Rehman fined and summoned him for a disciplinary hearing. He was captaining the Khyber Pakhtunkhawa outfit.
"Younis left because he felt his reputation was being tarnished at this stage of his career and this was not acceptable to him," the source said.
"Younis was not happy with the standard of umpiring and when the referee summoned him for a disciplinary hearing over some remarks he had made to fourth umpire Rashid Riaz after Friday's match (which KPK won) and he decided to leave the tournament in protest," another source confirmed.
The manager of the KPK team, Mukhtar Hussain, confirmed that Younis had left for home and Test batsman Ahmed Shehzad would now lead the team in the prestigious competition being televised live and being played under lights.
"Younis first had a run-in with umpire Shozab during the match against Federal Areas Islamabad which Misbah ul Haq was leading," the source said.
"In that match one appeal was turned down against Misbah and Younis was also not happy with the general standard of umpiring and when he asked the umpire why he didn't give Misbah out he got a funny reply," the source said.
Younis, after the match which KPK lost narrowly, said at the prize distribution ceremony if umpiring had been good his team would have won the match.
"The matter heated up when during the toss for the KPK game against Sindh on Friday the match referee requested Younis to go easy on the umpires. Younis, in a discussion with the fourth umpire later, gave him a piece of his mind and told him what needed to be done to improve the umpiring standards," the source said.
He said the fourth umpire than went and complained to the match referee that Younis had offended him and violated the code of conduct.
"The referee summoned Younis for a hearing which the senior player refused to attend after which the referee fined him 50 percent of his match fees."