Reminds me of a phrase in my mother tongue which could be translated roughly as hurting your own self with an axe! People are blaming the PCB, and yes, I'm not going to spare them of criticism, but I do not see the wisdom in selfishly undermining the feel good environment around the team just because you didn't have everything entirely your own way. If Younis indeed stepped down because of Faisal Iqbals's selection, then I'd would criticise his decision to withdraw on that account more then I'd criticise PCB's handling of this latest 'issue'.

The job of the captain is to select a playing XI from a pre-selected squad; who gets into this squad is the business of the selection committee, whilst both the captain and the coach do have a the right to present their recommendations to the selection committee, the final decision rests with them. And this is the norm in all test playing nations as far as I'm aware. To withdraw from captaincy and in doing so create an unsettling environment around the team merely because you didn't get the squad you would have ideally wanted speaks of selfishness. If its is 'personal' reason however, then I sympathise with Younis and wish him well. Though from his brief statement [ "I do not want to be a dummy captain" ] the reason seems more of personal 'offense' rather then a personal 'matter'.

The other suggestion going around is that he withdrew because he was irked at not being appointed full time and just for the ICC CT. Personally I have no problem with Inzi being at helm for as long as he's playing, because in any case he wont be playing more then the World Cup. And I also believe that a permanent change in captaincy so close to the World Cup would not be in our interest, we have had Inzi at helm for a long period now and it makes more sense to continue and take that same calmness he brings into a big tournament like that, the same calmness that has, everything said and done about his flaws, still brought us considerable success in recent times. Yes Inzi has his short comings, but I am not prepared as yet that the alternatives are good enough.

Certainly this latest Younis tantrum confirms my doubts. His level of selfishness has quite frankly astounded me. When Strauss was named captain for England's series against Pakistan in Flintoff and Vaughan's absence, he did not throw a tantrum and withdraw from the captaincy suggesting to the board that unless you make me captain permanently till the World Cup or the Ashes or whatever I'm not going to lead the team. Captaincy is an honor, you can't get it at your own terms.

Some one here remarked Younis Khan is a bubbly character, yes he is. But he doesn't not have the same calming influence on the team as does Inzi, lets not forget that the only public rows within the team to emerge since the time of the last World Cup have been those which arose during Younis Khan's stint in vice-captaincy including a rather ugly episode with Afridi in the West Indies. Younis has good cricket skills and astute captaining ability, no doubt, and Pakistan are very positive in not only their mind set but also body language when playing under him, but it would seem he is not as competent at man-handling and people's skill, as well as monitoring his own 'bubbly character' as well as does Inzi, which is not a very promising sign, given Inzi is in the fag end of his career, and the World Cup might well be his last tournament, and we would certainly need a long term replacement for him after that. One hopes Younis Khan will realise with the course of time that there are other things more important then just having your way.

As for the PCB, as usual, their capacity to engage in grand messes always keeps on improving. Why was this allowed to happen in the first place? Why did no one take Younis Khan into confidence about his position as a definite long term captaincy option, so that he would not have feel apprehended at just being named captain for the ICC CT, if that is the reason for his withdrawal. True he should not have felt so apprehended at the decision in first place, but for clarity's sake, it was certainly their responsibility to effectively convey to him their plans before making public announcements. If that is not reason for Younis' withdrawal, and he has a grievance with the selection committee, again, why was there no communication between Wasim Bari and co. and Younis Khan, why was the disagreement over Iqbal's selection not sorted out privately before hand? Why does it always have to come to a public farce? Does the PCB not value its own reputation at all so it just allows situations like this to materialise ever so often, so that they're literally hung out on the ropes free for all the world to make fun of them? Sigh. Somethings really never change.