Cricket: Yousuf likely to get the chop

Mohammad Yousuf's captaincy is attracting criticism at every turn and now the Pakistan Cricket Board has added to Yousuf's woes by saying he'll be dethroned after the team's heartbreaking Australian tour.

Yousuf's puzzling field settings to Australian batting pair Mike Hussey and Peter Siddle in this month's Sydney test helped Australia score a remarkable comeback win and later claim a 3-0 series sweep in Hobart.

Former Australian leg spinner Shane Warne questioned Yousuf's bizarre tactic of having eight fielders on the SCG fence.

And Pakistan haven't exactly hit the ground running in the five-match one-day series against Australia either, losing the opening game by five wickets in Brisbane on Friday night after a combination of errors with bat and ball.

Former Australian batsman Michael Slater laid the blame at the skipper's feet, saying Yousuf had struggled to use his bowling attack effectively.

Younus Khan, who has returned to the side after missing the test series against New Zealand and Australia due to a self-imposed exile, is playing in the one-day series against Australia and appears set to soon recover his role as skipper.

"This captain [Mohammad Yousuf] was for this series only and we will decide after the tour of Australia about the captain, we will change," PCB chairman Ijaz Butt told Pakistan television. "We did not change Younus. Unfortunately, the sports committee of the parliament made him run away after they levelled match fixing allegations against him."

Younus quit after the standing committee on sports alleged the Pakistan team had thrown a match against Australia in the Champions Trophy in South Africa in September.

"Younus was a good captain but he was hurt on the allegations and quit. Now we will soon decide about the change," Butt said.

Pakistan will play test series in England later in 2010 against Australia and England.

Coach Intikhab Alam strongly defended Yousuf yesterday as the tourists headed to Sydney for today's second one-day international against Australia.

"He's doing his best," Intikhab said. "When the team loses, people start criticising. We take no notice of that."

Pakistan will be looking for another big innings from fiery allrounder Shahid Afridi, fresh from a successful stint as guest player for South Australia in the Twenty20 competition. Afridi smashed 48 from 32 deliveries in Brisbane.

Younus also comes to Sydney in a confident mood after starting his tour with 46 from 74 balls at the Gabba.

While there are some good signs for Pakistan, Intikhab has continued the friendly fire on opening batsman Salman Butt, who was so heavily criticised by Yousuf following the pair's batting mix-up which led to the skipper's run out in the third test in Hobart.

The opener's 72 was Pakistan's top score on Friday, but it wasn't enough for the coach.

"We should never have lost," Intikhab said. "If Salman Butt had stayed on and got 40 more, we would have got a lot more."

Intikhab said Australia's Cameron White took the game away from Pakistan's grasp by turning a half-century into a big score (105).

"Anybody who gets 50 or 60 and gets out, that is not acceptable," Intikhab said.

- AAP