Younis Khan, the former captain and top scorer in Test cricket for Pakistan, believes that the national team’s cricket career would have advanced significantly if Bob Woolmer, the late head coach, had been alive.
A few hours after Pakistan’s defeat by Ireland and consequent elimination from the 2007 Cricket World Cup, Woolmer was discovered dead in his Jamaican hotel room.
“I have no doubt that if Woolmer had remained head coach, Pakistan cricket would have been very different today, and he would have taken it to great heights,” said Younis.
The players’ lack of support from their authorities during their investigation into Woolmer’s death was another issue that Younis, a member of the squad in 2007, subtly voiced his unhappiness about.
“I was very close to Bob (Woolmer) and it was our daily routine to sit down together after a match or nets to discuss cricket. Unfortunately the night he passed away, we didn’t sit together as we had lost to Ireland.
“I was also out for a duck and was very upset with myself. So, I went to my room and locked myself in. Next day, I didn’t see him at breakfast and later we learnt about his death,” Younis said on a Pakistani TV channel.
Younis went on to say that Woolmer’s passing and the strain the players faced in the West Indies made him reconsider leading Pakistan for an extended period of time.
Following the dispatch of their own security personnel to the Caribbean to collaborate with the Jamaican police, the Pakistan Cricket Board and the government declared Woolmer’s death to have been caused by natural causes.
After the World Cup, Younis claimed Woolmer had mentally prepared him to lead Pakistan for an extended period of time in all formats.
“After what all happened in the World Cup, I changed my mind and I became a reluctant captain and had no long-term tenure in mind.”
After Woolmer passed away, according to Younis, the players were transferred to a different island and interrogated by the local police for three days.
“It was like a torture for us there. While I fully understand the responsibilities a player has to show as an ambassador of his country, it should be the other way round… authorities must also look after us,” he added.
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