Saeed Ajmal responds to Rana Naveed's claims: No player underperformed in 2009 series

Rana Naveed, the former Pakistani paceman, recently revealed that back in 2009, players under Younis Khan’s captaincy underperformed on a purpose because they did not want Younis as a skipper.

Pakistan, back in 2009, in a three-match ODI series against New Zealand lost by 2-1. According to the former bowler, the players themselves did not want to play because they wanted to remove Younis as a skipper.

Rana Naveed revealed that he himself was a part of conspiracy and plot sketched against Younis Khan. He disclosed that he does not have personal issues with Younis but all of them wanted to be the captain so they decided to perform badly so the board can later remove him.

Saeed Ajmal, the former leg-spinner of Pakistan, has made statements over Naveed’s prior claims and said that no player underperformed on purpose. Ajmal said that Younis Khan was an aggressive captain and we, as the players can’t even think of sketching a conspiracy plot against him instead, we all played to win that series.

Saeed Ajmal responds to Rana Naveed’s claims: No player underperformed in 2009 series

Ajmal maintained an agreement saying that the management knew Younis was an aggressive captain and his behave was a bit harsh towards players, he was advised to keep calm from the next series.

“I can say with conviction that no Pakistan player indulged in any activity that led to any match being lost just so that Younis Khan could be removed as captain. I played in those games and I know that no such thing happened as we all played to win the game,” said Ajmal in an interview with pakpassion.net.

“I am not sure why Rana Naved feels that there was some conspiracy against Younis Khan. He was an aggressive captain who played with that mindset and in the previous tour of South Africa, we had requested the PCB to advise him to have a better attitude with his team-mates,” he said.

“But, to say that a match was deliberately lost to remove Younis Khan as captain simply did not happen. Younis Khan is a great man who has performed really well for Pakistan. I respect him and believe we as players would never dream of undermining his captaincy by any means,” concluded Ajmal.