Karachi - Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf believes Shoaib Malik does not deserve to be the national captain and said his appointment was an injustice.
Yousuf, who is banned from playing in Pakistan having joined the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) last year, said Malik's appointment in 2007 over other senior players was hugely unfair.
"It is perhaps for the first time in Pakistan cricket that a player who is not a certain choice in the test and one-day team has been made captain," Yousuf told the Geo Super Sports channel.
The veteran of 79 tests and 269 one-day internationals and former ICC test player of the year said he joined the ICL and put his international career on the line because of shabby treatment from Malik and former chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed.
"Tell me, does Malik command an automatic place in the Pakistan test or one-day team?" he asked. "Yet the board made him captain."
Yousuf was one of several senior players overlooked for the captaincy after Pakistan's first round exit from the last World Cup.
Yousuf, who set a world record for most test runs in a calendar year in 2006, said he still wanted to play for Pakistan but did not regret his decision to join the ICL.
"The way they dropped me from the Twenty20 team in 2007 without giving any reason or criteria for selecting players, I was hurt and disappointed," he added.
"Our board needs to stop toeing the line of the Indian board. What have they done for us? They even refused to tour when we needed a series most."
Yousuf admitted he had left a training camp in Karachi in protest before the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007 after learning Malik did not want him.
"After so many years of service to Pakistan cricket I could not accept the humiliation and packed my bags and left camp," he said.
- Editing by Martin Petty