da dobrowin： Younis Khan, who was reinstated on Saturday morning as Pakistan captain,hours before the team took off for India to play the Champions Trophy,scoffed at speculation that his team would be under pressure as a result of the latest crisis in Pakistan crick
Nagraj Gollapudi in New Delhi07-Oct-2006
Sombre phalanx: Younis Khan, flanked by Bob Woolmer and PCB chairman Naseem Ashraf, insisted that everything was perfectly in order © Getty Images
Younis Khan, who was reinstated on Saturday morning as Pakistan captain,hours before the team took off for India to play the Champions Trophy,scoffed at speculation that his team would be under pressure as a result of the latestcrisis in Pakistan cricket. Hours after landing in New Delhi,Younis put up an anxious but smiling face in front of the media,repeatedly pointing to his positive “body language” as proof thateverything was fine where the team was concerned.”The team has been one and our performance in the last two years is evidence of that. And if there was a problem I wouldn’t have come here toplay the tournament and the sole reason for that is our team’s unity,” he said.In a series of spectacular incidents Younis had been appointed captain two days back but refused it saying he didn’t want to be a “dummycaptain.” Mohammad Yousuf was appointed as replacement, only for Younis to recalled by the newly appointed PCB chairman Naseem Ashraf.One subtle hint that the Pakistan camp may not have got over the turmoil yet came when the team manager Talat Ali, introduced Younis as”Mohammad Yousuf” right at the start of the media session. Both Younis and coach Bob Woolmer blushed but tried tolaugh out the matter. Woolmer,aware of the predatory nature of themedia, wanted to pre-empt discussion on the topic.”It has been an eventful month-and-a-half, one that will be recorded well in my brainfor a long time, but I’ll say that it is now history. Unfortunately forall of you who would like to know all that happened in the last few daysand in the last one month, we are going to put all that baggage behindus, put it in a dustbin, put it away and get on with the cricket,” he said.In fact, Woolmer thought that the team could use the pressure as acatalyst to regain the team’s focus. “When you have these sort of pressuresyou can either crumble and disappear and not want to play or you can usethem to strenghten team spirit and to play the sort of cricket that willput us back on the map and take all these issues.”Pakistan begin their campaign against an undecided qualifer on October 17, then go on to play New Zealand and South Africa and Woolmer is notunderestimating either of the latter two teams. One piece of good news for the teamis the return of Mohammad Asif who was under an injury scare during theMohammad Nizar Trophy match between Sialkot and Uttar Pradesh lastmonth. Younis was confident that his team would reach the final as “wehave a balanced team and our biggest advantage is the presence of somegood allrounders even if the absence of our captain Inzamam-ul-Haq is abig loss to the side.”Asked if he would step down if Pakistan reached the final, by when Inzamamwould’ve served his four-match ban, Younis said there was no doubt aboutthat. “It will be really good if we win our first four games in theChampions Trophy and then Inzy comes back and I will be ready to standdown as captain. I will be really happy to see him lift the trophy while Iam standing behind him. He has been one of my heroes right from the 1992 WorldCup.”Repeatedly, Younis stressed that it was not the captaincy stakes but respect that mattered to him. “It has never made a difference for me if I ammade the captain or not. I know that the captain’s chair is alwaysa big issue in the subcontinent but I wouldn’t like to be involved in thecaptaincy race. The only thing I look for is respect in the team and if myword is being heard. I should be playing for at least threeyears and I am trying to play that in a clean and neat fashion.”