Cricekt World
AddThis Feed Button Latest News
Current Tours/Series
England v Pakistan England v Pakistan
Canada v Ireland Canada v Ireland
Champions League T20 Champions League T20
India vs Australia India vs Australia
Points Table Zim Tri-serie CL Twenty20 Point Table
Country wise Fixtures
Afghanistan Afghanistan
Australia Australia
Bangladesh Bangladesh
Canada Canada
England England
Hong Kong Hong Kong
India India
Ireland Ireland
Kenya Kenya
Netherlands Netherlands
New Zealand New Zealand
Pakistan Pakistan
Scotland Scotland
South Africa South Africa
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka
United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates
West Indies West Indies
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe

ICC Twenty20 World Cup, 2009
Younis Hopes Pakistan go One Better in World T20
29-May-2009 09:15:00 IST

Karachi: Pakistan captain Younis Khan is confident his team can go one better in the World Twenty20 after finishing runners-up last time to bitter rivals India.

Two years ago, Pakistan lost a nailbiting final against India by five runs in Johannesburg, a loss that Younis insists his team is eager to put behind them.

"We want to win the title," said Younis. "We have the talent, but it's a tough competition where other eleven teams will do their best to finish at the top."

Pakistan are in Group B, along with hosts England and the Netherlands, in first round of the competition which runs from June 5-21.

They take on England June 7 before facing the Netherlands two days later.

The second round Super Eight stages should give Pakistan an easy draw with likely rivals being New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

But Younis is not taking any team lightly.

"We need to be at our best even against the Netherlands because no team is small or big," said Younis who was referring to Pakistan's defeat to Ireland at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean which sent them packing from the tournament.

That defeat was the start of a dark chapter in Pakistan's cricket history.

Shoaib Malik, who was handed the captaincy after Younis refused to lead the team, restored some normalcy by taking Pakistan to the runners-up spot at the inaugural World Twenty20.

Malik then lost the captaincy after Pakistan's One-day defeat against Sri Lanka earlier this year. That led to Younis taking over the hot seat.

Under Younis, Pakistan lost 3-2 to Australia in a recent one-day series in the United Arab Emirates, but won the one-off Twenty20 match.

Younis said Pakistan's preparations have been satisfactory.

"We beat Australia in the Twenty20 match which was a good morale booster and then had a good conditioning camp and some practice matches which tuned us well for England," said Younis, whose team has the best win ratio in all Twenty20.

Pakistan have won eight of their 11 internationals with two defeats and one tied match.

Pakistan will heavily rely on paceman Umar Gul who has taken the most wickets (24 in 14 matches) in this newest form of the game and with injury-prone Shoaib Akhtar pulled out of the team, his responsibility has increased.

Rao Iftikhar, who replaced Akhtar in the squad, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat and rookie paceman Mohammad Aamir complete the fast bowling line-up.

The 17-year-old Aamir is tipped to surprise with his speed and swing in English conditions.

Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal and Shoaib Malik lead the the spin department which has the ability to stop runs and take wickets.

Off-spinner Ajmal received a boost ahead of the event when his action was cleared by the International Cricket Council.

Younis hoped his own batting form improves to help lift an otherwise inconsistent line-up which also has opener Salman Butt, Misbah-ul-Haq, Malik Afridi and in-form Kamran Akmal.


Bookmark and Share  

ICC World Twenty20, 2009

ICC World Twenty20
Schedule 2010 Squad 2010
Points Table 2010 T20 WC History
Fixtures 2009 Points Table 2009
World Cup 2009 Final 2009
Winner 2009 2009 World Cup Group
Squad 2009 Twenty20 Cricket
T20 Origin Twenty20 Rules
2007 Statistics 2007 World Cup Group
Winners 2007 Women T20 Winner 2009




ICC Twenty20 World Cup News
Ranatunga Blames Modi for India's T20 WC Disaster
Umpires Threat Forced ICC to Think Shifting T20 WC
BCCI Sacks Team India Coaches
Afridi's T20 WC T-shirt to be Displayed at London's Museum
ICC World Twenty20 Team
World Twenty20 - The Most Dramatic Happenings
Pakistan Beat Sri Lanka to win Twenty20 World Cup 2009
T20 WC Final - Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Lord's, London - Preview
Afridi Wants to Make it Third Time Lucky
Lanka Thrash Windies by 57 runs, Reach in Finals


Latest News
Shaun Tait Happy to Play it Short
Hopes Appointed Queensland Bulls Captain
Pietersen Joins KwaZulu-Natal to Seek Ashes Lift
WC 2011 - ICC Pitch Consultant Inspects Motera Stadium
PCB Chief Ejaz Butt Jeered on Return to Pakistan
Stirling Maiden Ton Secure Level Series Against Canada
Kaneria Gets Clean Chit Over Betting Allegations
Will Australian Players Boycott IPL 4?
ICC Sends Official Notice to Kamran Akmal
BCCI to Cut Down Tenure of IPL Governing Council


Feedback Form