by Saj Sadiq

13th February 2010

Mudassar Nazar's work these days is a far cry from the turmoil that is Pakistan cricket, but he admits that he has more than just one eye on the unpredictable goings on back in Pakistan.

As one of the coaches working for the ICC at their Global Cricket Academy in Dubai, Mudassar works with players from the Associate nations, a rather different role to when he was coach of the Pakistan team.

Mudassar whilst watching the Ireland versus Netherland Twenty/20 World Cup qualifier spoke earlier to PakPassion.net about the most recent sad chapter in Pakistan cricket and what he thought should be the outcome of the very public feud between Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf.

"The Yousuf and Malik feud has been simmering for a while" stated a despondent Nazar. "Yousuf was very active in the press and he has had a go at Malik and other players too quite a few times in the press in the past. The slanging match that has now taken place before us all has in my opinion been started by Yousuf and now Malik has responded too".

Mudassar who represented Pakistan in 76 tests and 122 one day internationals is extremely disappointed with both players and the PCB Chairman for this fiasco and added "Both of the players are under central contracts and should not have been allowed to behave in such a way in front of the whole world. Yousuf should not have been allowed to go on television and give such an interview and Malik should not have gone to the press like this in response to Yousuf's comments".

The former all rounder believes that both players should be punished heavily and made an example of, so that younger players do not follow suit with this sort of behaviour in future. "What sort of an example are Yousuf and Malik giving to the younger players with this sort of behaviour. We have already seen the likes of Umar Akmal misbehaving and if others see Malik and Yousuf carrying on like this, then they themselves will think it is fine to behave like this. Both Malik and Yousuf should be taken to task by the Board, they should be made an example of and kicked out of the team".

Mudassar who has previously worked in Pakistan's National Cricket Academy and was also part of the junior selection committee expressed his disappointment in the handling of this latest controversy to tarnish Pakistan cricket. "The players should have been sat down together and anything that they wanted to discuss should have been discussed there behind closed doors. What is really mystifying is that PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt has given Shoaib Malik the nod of approval to respond in the press to Yousuf's comments. Butt should not have done this and this has made the situation even worse".

Responding to a question regarding whether he thought the investigation committee set up after the tour of Australia would achieve anything Mudassar stated "The committee will achieve absolutely nothing. We have seen these committees set up before and there is a lot of talk, but nothing materialises from these committees".

Mudassar who has had two stints as coach of Pakistan says that he would never do the job in future. "The job is not for me, thank you very much. I would never do the job in future. I believe they are looking for a foreign coach and good luck to the person who takes on the role. In my opinion only a desperate man would take on the role".

The investigation committee continues today with Yousuf and Malik amongst the players due to give evidence .