September 13, 2008	Saturday	Ramazan 12, 1429

LAHORE, Sept 12: Insisting that he will show his fitness to play Twenty20, Pakistan’s prolific batsman Mohammad Yousuf, who could not achieve the ICC award for the best ODI Player of the Year, is not disappointed but rather feels proud for being selected as a nominee with the top cricketers of the year.

Talking to reporters on Friday, Yousuf said he considered even the nomination for the award as a great honour.

To get the annual ICC award Yousuf had to beat players like India’s Sachin Tendulkar, Australia’s Nathan Bracken and India’s limited-overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who received the award.

Yousuf, the second highest run-getter for Pakistan in ODIs and third in Test cricket, said he would play the national Twenty20 Cup to prove his fitness for this format of the game.

The national event is scheduled to start in Lahore from Oct 4.

“I shall prove to the selectors that I am quite fit for this form of cricket too,” he insisted.

The national selection committee has been ignoring Yousuf for the Twenty20 cricket since dropping him from the Twenty20 World Championship held in South Africa last year.

“Specialist batsmen and bowlers are also the needs of Twenty20 as playing the full quota of 20 overs is not an easy job,” he pointed out.

Commenting on the next chairman of the PCB, Yousuf believes a Test cricketer could run the board more effectively.

“Though I don’t want to say anything more about the next chairman, the new head should also pick those Test cricketers in his team who have played 40 to 50 Test matches,” he said.

About his dispute with the breakaway Indian Cricket League (ICL), Yousuf said the previous chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf had taken the responsibility of settling the issue but he could not solve it. He now expects that the next chairman will clear the issue.

Yousuf had signed with the ICL but later broke the deed on the advice of Dr Ashraf to play for the Indian Premier League. But the ICL had taken the case to court, where it is still pending.