Yousuf claims he informed selectors prior to pulling out

KARACHI: After his last-minutes pull-out from the first Test against South Africa triggered widespread speculation, Pakistan run-machine Mohammad Yousuf claimed he had informed the selectors beforehand about his non-availability for the match.
    
Yousuf's pull-out on the morning of the match on Monday led to speculation that his decision might have been influenced by his move to drop a contract with the rebel Indian Cricket League. But Yousuf said he had informed the selectors last night that he was not match fit for and that they never asked him about his form or fitness before including him in the Test squad.
    
Yousuf was only last week persuaded by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to drop his contract with the ICL and accept a central contract with them and make himself eligible for Test selection.
    
He joined the team within 24 hours to prepare for the first Test. But the record breaking batsman said the ICL had nothing to do with his decision.
    
"It is just that I have not played any cricket for the last two months and have not been on the field. I was on a religious preaching tour to Dir last month. So I was not prepared for this match," he said.
    
Yousuf said he had received no legal notice from the ICL when asked if he was expecting any reaction from them on his decision to not play for them.

Chief selector, Salahuddin Ahmed said that Yousuf had himself opted out of the first Test due to lack of match fitness but Yousuf maintained if the selectors had asked him before including him in the Test squad he would have informed them about his position.
    
"I told them last night I was not playing," he said.

Yousuf who scored a record breaking 1,788 runs in 11 Tests with nine hundreds last year said he was asked to join the team and he did. He said he was preparing for the second Test from Oct 8 in Lahore and was looking forward to playing in it.
    
"But that time I should be more match fit with some hard training and nets." Salahuddin said Yousuf was a certain selection to play if match fit by then.
    
Former captain Javed Miandad said he suspected Yousuf's last minute drop out might have something to do with his arbitrarily canceling his contract with the ICL.
    
"I suspect it is more than just his match fitness. If it was just about match fitness the selectors should have known about it before hand not on the morning of the match," he said.
    
He said the PCB had made a mistake by offering a central contract to Yousuf knowing he had an agreement with ICL and the batsman himself should have worked out things with the Indian league organisers before committing himself to Pakistan.
    
Yousuf, former captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq and Imran Farhat joined the breakaway ICL in August after Yousuf and Razzaq were dropped for the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.