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| October 19, 2006 | Thursday | Ramazan 25, 1427 |
Fine spells from Razzaq, Hafeez turned the game for us: Younis
Jaipur, Oct 18: A beaming Younis Khan attributed Pakistan victory over Sri Lanka here on Tuesday to team effort and positive cricket from his side.
Addressing the post-match conference alongwith Man of the Match Abdul Razzaq late on Tuesday evening, the Pakistan captain said, “today we have won as a team despite all odds."
"I have always said that we are a fine team and we perform very strongly in face of odds and I am grateful to Allah that He has given us this victory and kept our pride intact. If we had lost today it would have given people another excuse to criticise us."
Younis said he was very happy with the performance of the team as senior players stuck to their task and Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal, who are not in the best of form, also came good.
Younis commended Razzaq’s brilliant effort with both bat and ball and said quick Sri Lankan wickets in the closing overs changed the complexion of the match.
“To me the turning point of match was the way Abdul Razzaq and Mohammed Hafeez bowled the last 10 overs against Sri Lanka,” he said. “They really exploited those conditions very well.”
The Peshawar-born player admitted that his team was tad nervous on the eve of the match, mainly because of the doping scandal and also because the Sri Lankans had been playing quite superbly in the tournament.
“Yes, the boys were little under pressure and some of them could not sleep properly on Monday night. But I am happy that all went well.”
“The last few days have been quite tough for us. First we lost Inzamam, then the captaincy furore and finally just a day before the match, we lost our two main strike bowlers.
“But what to do? I have been never given easy situations and now I am used to them. I relish such situations.”
Younis praised the Jaipur crowd and said his team enjoyed playing at the venue. “We have always enjoyed great support from the Indian crowd. Indian cricketers are very popular in Pakistan and I know for a fact that we are very popular with the Indian crowd here.”
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