Yousuf quits Test arena after PCB suspension

FORMER captain Mohammad Yousuf has announced his retirement from international cricket in protest at a ban imposed on him by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

On the recommendation of an inquiry committee set up to probe reasons for Pakistan's woeful performances against Australia earlier this year, Yousuf was banned from all international cricket for an indefinite period.

Pakistan had lost all nine international matches on their tour of Australia and Yousuf had led the team in seven of those matches, including three Tests. The inquiry committee had found Yousuf guilty of being involved in infighting during the tour and of indiscipline. But Yousuf has refuted those charges.

Yousuf was handed the captaincy for a Test series in New Zealand and the subsequent tour of Australia after Younus Khan stepped down following defeat in a one-day series to New Zealand in Abu Dhabi. The 35-year-old Yousuf, a veteran of 88 Tests and 282 one-day internationals, was also involved in a stinging verbal duel with another former captain Shoaib Malik – much of it played out on national television. Yousuf blamed Malik for disrupting harmony in the dressing room.