Team has improved under my captaincy : Yousuf

PERTH - Unfazed by the severe criticism over his team’s pitiable performance Down Under, Pakistan captain Mohammed Yousuf has said that the squad has actually improved after he took over.

Yousuf said the team was going ‘nowhere’ when he was handed over the captaincy, and added that he has helped the players gel together better.

“A lot of teams from Pakistan came here not playing like this and they have had great player when they came here.This is a new team and when the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) gave me a team as a captain I think the team was nowhere.I have tried to make the whole team gel,” The News quoted Yousuf, as saying.

Pakistan were whitewashed 3-0 in the Test series and have already handed over an inaccessible 3-0 lead in the five match one-day series to Australia. However, Yousuf believes his side has performed well during the tour.

“We played very good Test cricket in Australia.First game (Test) we lost heavy but next game we came back very hard and we nearly won.They didn’t win (in Sydney), we gave them the match. We almost won the game,” Yousuf said.

The 35-year-old batsman said there is nothing wrong with his form, and it was just that he is not getting some big runs.

“As a batsman I feel my form is excellent, I think better than the whole team, but unfortunately I didn’t make runs. I’m hitting them in middle but I haven’t made runs,” he said. (ANI)