Younis Khan steps down as Pakistan's batting coach: The Reason

Pakistan Cricket Board and Pakistan men's national cricket team batting coach Younis Khan today mutually agreed to part ways. Younis Khan, the Pakistani legend has stepped down from his position as the team's batting coach. He was appointed last year in November. The contract was a two-year contract until the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022.

Pakistan is all set to tour England and West Indies starting from June 25. They will play three ODIs and three T20Is in the United Kingdom and the tour will be till 20th July. Then the Pakistan team will tour West Indies direct from the UK. The West Indies tour will start from July 21 to August 24. West Indies tour will feature five T20Is and two Tests.

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Therefore this news just before the England tour will shock the Pakistani fans all over the world. However, this is not the first time that Pakistani team has faced issues with their team and coaching management.

'Pakistan men's national cricket team will travel to the United Kingdom without a batting coach, while the decision to appoint Younis Khan's replacement for the West Indies tour will be made in due course,

Pakistan Cricket Board

The Pakistani Cricket Board has stated the exclusion of Younis Khan as "reluctantly but mutually and amicably agreed". But, over the years the leading run-scorer in Pakistan Cricket History had some issues with the management. In 2006, he refused to captain the Pakistan team in the Champions Trophy. Then, in 2009 he stepped down as the captain of the team as some of the players were not happy with his leadership style. Even at the end of his career, he returned a cash award given to him by the PCB, because he was not happy with the treatment of the Pakistan Cricket Board.

 "It is sad to lose an expert of the stature and experience of Younis Khan. Following a series of discussions, we both have reluctantly but mutually and amicably agreed that it was time to move in different directions.

PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan

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Results Under Younis Khan as batting coach

Younis Khan was working under the head coach Misbah-Ul-Haq. It was in 2017 he was first appointed as the batting coach. However, over the last four years the Pakistan team had some mixed results which also resulted in captaincy handover as well.

Pakistan played five overseas Tests in England and New Zealand. In five of them, Pakistan drew two and lost three before beating South Africa across formats - both home and away. After that, they had a successful Zimbabwe tour, though it was considered as one of the easier tours.

What could be the reason of Younis Khan's exit?

Though the results were a bit mixed, the team management had appointed him as a long term process. Then why did Younis Khan stepped down as the batting coach? The speculation is that Younis Khan always wanted a "bigger role" in Pakistan Cricket. Younis already had turned down the batting coach's position twice before joining as the batting coach. In 2019, he also turned down the Under-19 coach's position as he wanted a bigger role. Though he and Pakistan Board has agreed to make no comments on the reasons for his exit, we can guess he wanted to have something bigger this time as well.

Hopefully, with time we might have some clear answers from any of the sides.