KARACHI: Former Test captain and renowned batsman Mohammad Yousuf said that if Pakistan need him then it should be considered that he never took retirement from international cricket.

He said this while talking with media here on Sunday. He said that captaincy is no problem for him and he can play under any captain as he wants to serve the country. In yet another dramatic move, the bearded batsman announced on the launch of his new meat franchise here that he was ready to take back his retirement if the team needed him, in the wake of the limited batting options in the country especially for the Test series against England which would be another acid test for the Pakistan team.

Yousuf simply said that he was ready to return if asked by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in a respectful manner, and beyond that he was not concerned about who was leading and who was not. The world record holder for most runs in a calendar year for a Test batsman, amused the journalists present at the launch by saying that his opinion was what the media was on the appointment of Salman Butt, meaning that he was bewildered just like the media and the rest of the country.

Yousuf struggled to answer questions from some of the journalists who were clearly perturbed by the embarrassing run of Test defeats at the hands of Australia, in which five were under his captaincy.

Yousuf, who averages 53 runs per innings in Test cricket, said that in the early 2000’s the Aussies were extremely tough to beat and on many occasions luck deserted Pakistan which resulted in defeats from seemingly impregnable positions. He revealed that Australian batsman Justin Langer had confessed to him, Waqar Younis and current Australian captain Ricky Ponting that he had nicked a delivery from Wasim Akram during the 1999 Hobart Test that Aussies won after having been down and out for the count, before a remarkable partnership between Adam Gilchrist and Langer took them to the third highest run chase in Test cricket at the time.

He added that luck similarly deserted the team in the Sydney Test earlier this year which Pakistan had in their grasp before they succumbed to the pressure of chasing in the fourth innings of the match, needing 170 odd runs for a win on the final day. Yousuf mentioned that if the team plays with determination and unity then they can surmount the Aussies and end their winning streak, which is not an indication of the strength of the current team, rather an indication of the lack of application of the Pakistan batsmen that time and again blow up golden opportunities of winning. He added that the PCB needed to be careful about over exposure of T20 cricket that was ruining the temperament of the batsmen who were simply incapable of defending their wicket. Yousuf concluded that it was easy for any tail-end batsman to slog a few balls, rather than blocking even ten balls properly, and that is the state of Pakistani batsmen who are just adamant on attacking than spending enough time on the crease, what ever the situation be.

Courtesy by dailytimes.com.pk