Butt calls Yousuf ‘elder brother’, vows to improve running skills

HOBART - After being reprimanded publicly by captain Mohammad Yousuf for his ‘lazy’ and ’selfish’ attitude, Pakistan opener Salman Butt has promised to improve his running between the wickets and said that Yousuf is like his elder brother.

“He is my captain, senior player and like an elder brother. Anybody in his place would’ve been like that, so I don’t mind even if he said something,” Butt told reporters when asked about his response after being called ’selfish’ by his skipper.

Pakistan was placed comfortably at 63 for no loss in the first innings, but a dramatic collapse, thanks to the two needless run outs courtesy Butt, saw them losing four quick wickets in space of just 21 runs on the second day.

Butt, however, tried to resurrect his mistakes by smashing a ton later in the innings.

Butt described the incident as a ’small thing’, and said players are mature enough to not to take such things seriously.

“We have played enough cricket not to think about these small things. Okay this happened, alright he is our best player, no doubt and it would’ve been very good had he stayed on and scored a big hundred but if something has happened you can’t keep on moaning about it,” The Dawn quote Butt, as saying.

Describing Test cricket as the most difficult form of the game, Butt said the recent tour of New Zealand and the ongoing series against Australia were like a comeback for him and the team.

“Test cricket is the most difficult cricket that exists. Twenty20 and ODIs are much easier formats than Test because it is a test of everything, your nerves and fitness. You cannot compare 450 overs, or a 30 hours match with a three-hour game, it’s totally different,” he said. (ANI)