Former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali has lashed out at ex-batting coach Grant Flower for his ‘knife to the throat’ claims against Younis Khan.
One of the greatest ambassadors for Pakistan cricket, Younis, amassed over 17,000 international runs, in a career spanning over 17 years.
Flower, who was the batting coach of Pakistan cricket team from 2014-2019, made the astonishing claims during one of the recent podcasts.
However, an official from Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), told PTI that the incident, which took place during Pakistan’s 2016 Australian tour, was not as grave as Flower portrayed it to be.
Apparently, Younis made the gesture with a butter knife in banter, asking Flower not to dispense batting advice on the breakfast table.
Now, Ali has left scathing remarks for the former Zimbabwe all-rounder. Ali claimed that Pakistan cricket is still not in that bad a shape that coaches like Flower provide suggestions for batting greats such as Younis.
“There is a statement that has come out from Grant Flower about Younis Khan. I feel he has given this statement very quickly. I feel he should think which person, which player he is talking about, who has scored 10000 runs for Pakistan,” Ali told Sportskeeda.
“Pakistan cricket is not that bad that coaches like Grant Flower give suggestions to Younis Khan. It was his [Younis] greatness that he used to listen to him [Flower] and even used to credit him in press conferences.
“Statements like this are not good for our nation’s cricket and PCB should take action. Because Younis Khan is one of our greatest cricketers and I felt very sad,” he added.
Further, Ali took a jibe at Flower while pointing out his credentials, and even compared him to his elder brother Andy Flower.
“What has he done for our nation, has he developed any player? Not even one player. No doubt Grant Flower has played Test matches for Zimbabwe, but Zimbabwe is not a Test championship or World Cup-winning team. I am extremely hurt.”
Additionally, Basit warned that Pakistan cricket should be wary of ‘such people’, and lambasted Flower for being an average coach.
“Pakistan cricket should save itself from such people. He was an average coach and will thus give such a statement to get famous. He had given a statement earlier that when he used to be in Pakistan, he couldn’t go out anywhere. That was a lie, he used to roam around in Lahore,” Ali concluded.
