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The PCB has sacked ex-captains Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan from all formats of the international game.



The PCB has struck against its players with a venom unseen in recent memory, carrying out the deepest cull of a senior cricket team in many years and banning and fining seven of its top players after the side's disastrous, winless tour of Australia. It effectively banned Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf from playing for Pakistan in any format, while handing out one-year bans to Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Shahid Afridi and the Akmal brothers were fined Rs2-3 million [$24,000-35,000] for various misdemeanours and put on six-month probations.
Action had been expected once details of the inquiry committee's report recommendations were leaked in the press on Monday and Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, had followed it up by saying "more than significant action" would be taken against players. While the punishments for Malik, Rana, Afridi and the Akmal brothers were expected, the action against Yousuf and Younis has caught most people off-guard.

 

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