Younis asks for more time to ‘rebuild’ team
By ANIWednesday, July 15, 2009
COLOMBO - Upset over his team’s defeat in the second Test match against Sri Lanka, Pakistan captain Younis Khan has said he needs more time to ‘rebuild’ the team which has played “very little cricket over the last 18 months”.
Talking to media persons here, Khan said the players needed more time to adapt and blamed the lack of international exposure for the team’s lackluster performance in both Test matches
“Give this team some time, don’t point fingers too early. It will be very easy for me too to blame particular players, even myself. But the reality is we haven’t been playing any Test cricket. It’s very easy for me to give up, to say I can’t captain this team. But somebody will have to stand up and fix the situation,” The News quoted Khan, as saying.
“There is only 20 percent that we are lacking. If we play to our potential, everybody knows about us, we will start winning. It is all about concentration and how to adapt to conditions,” he added.
The Pakistan batting order collapsed like a house of cards in the second innings of the second Test match here on Tuesday resulting in a seven wicket loss.
Pakistan was 285 for one on day three, but crumpled to 320 all out thanks to some irresponsible shots by middle order batsmen and disciplined bowling by Lankan bowlers.
The defeat helped Sri Lanka gain an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three match series.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt has denied reports about any grouping in the team.
“There cannot be any chance of grouping in the team as I believe the captain has very good relations with senior players like Misbah-ul-Haq,” Butt said.
He said the board has no intention to remove the captain, even though the team had to face humiliating defeat in both the matches.
“First of all it is not a joke to change captains again and again and furthermore Younis is doing quite well. I think as our players are playing Test cricket after a long layoff, they will take some time to come back to this form of cricket,” Butt added. (ANI)
