Ex-Pakistan pacer Rana Naved claims some senior players 'deliberately underperformed' during New Zealand series in 2009

Karachi: Former Pakistan pacer Rana Naved ul Hassan has alleged that a number of senior players “deliberately under-performed” during the 2009 ODI series against New Zealand in the UAE as they were unhappy with Younis Khan’s captaincy. [caption id=“attachment_5131811” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representative image. Reuters[/caption] The 42-year-old Rana, who played 9 Tests, 74 ODIs and 4 T20Is for Pakistan, specifically spoke about two ODIs during that tour. “We lost two ODI matches against New Zealand in the UAE during 2009 because some of the players involved deliberately did not play well,” Rana told a local news channel. The pacer also claimed he pulled out of the tour because he didn’t want to be a part of the conspiracy by seniors against the skipper. It was after the 2009 Champions Trophy in South Africa where some players gathered together and reportedly vowed to oust Younis as they felt he was too “arrogant and abusive”. “I preferred to sit out of the tour. But I had informed Younis Khan that this was a conspiracy against you and that they wanted me to be part of it,” he said. Rana, however, maintained that it was not a rebellion against Younis, the person but Younis as captain. “After he (Younis) became captain, his personality and attitude changed and some seniors (he didn’t name them), who harboured ambitions of leading the side didn’t want to play under him.” The senior players during that phase were Mohammed Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Saeed Ajmal. Pakistan lost the three-match ODI series, 1-2 despite winning the first match in a convincing fashion by 138 runs. They lost the remaining two matches by 64 and seven runs, respectively.