KARACHI: Former Indian Test skipper Mohammad Azharuddin on Tuesday said that he didn’t like it when people were slighting Younis Khan for his failure with the bat in the recent England series and was compelled to make a phone call to the 38-year-old Pakistan player before the final Test at The Oval.

“Playing in England is always a difficult proposition because of the seam and swing. So I rang him up and told him to stand in the crease which gave him more time to meet the ball and thankfully it worked for Younis and he played superbly,” the former Indian captain said while speaking to a private news channel on Tuesday.

In a post match talk with former skipper Mike Atherton at The Oval, Younis had revealed how Azharuddin had called him a day before the fourth Test and asked him to stand inside the crease to overcome his problems.

Younis, who had managed only two scores of 30 plus in the first three Tests, followed Azhar’s advice to the letter and scored a brilliant, match-winning 218 that propelled Pakistan to a series-levelling win in the fourth Test.

In his more than 7-hour- long innings, Younis hit 31 fours and four sixes.

“It was great of Younis to change his technique as per my instructions,” said Azharuddin. “Earlier, I did not like it when people talked about Younis in an adverse manner as he struggled to find form in the three Tests. He has done so much for Pakistan and has a lot of runs to his name and I thought I must call him in his hour of need,” said the 52-year-old ex-Indian skipper.

Younis, when asked about Azharuddin’s advice, said: I preferred to listen to Azharuddin compared to the other experts who kept telling me to retire. Azhar highlighted the technical aspects that helped me a lot. He is a legendary batsman and played a crucial role in the rise of [Rahul] Dravid, Ajay Jadega, and [Sachin] Tendulkar,” added Younis.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2016