Thaindian News

Karachi, April 22(ANI): Former Pakistan captain Younus Khan has said that he is “neither angry nor upset” at being dropped from the national team for the West Indies tour.

“No, I am neither angry nor upset. This is part of a professional cricketer’s life. It is now up to the new players picked for the series to perform and prove they can replace the seniors,” the Daily Times quoted Younus, as saying.

“A professional cricketer should just perform and that should be his statement for everyone including the media. It is not the job of a player to say much in the media,” he added.

Younus, who had recently upset the media in Karachi when he showed up at an inauguration ceremony of a tournament in the city but flatly refused to speak, said that he had decided to just enjoy his cricket and speak little, since the day he had stepped down as Pakistan captain.

“When I was captain, I interacted a lot with the media. But once I am no longer the captain, it is not necessary for me to say much. I just want to do well on an individual level and for the team,” he said.

“When I was [Pakistan] captain, I remember telling the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports that there was too much pressure on the person who captained Pakistan and this was not fair on him. I had also reminded then that if this trend of criticizing every decision of the captain or performance of the team continued, then there would come a time when no one would like to captain the national team,” he said.

Referring to the fact that the Pakistan team was given a hero’s welcome on returning home from the 2011 World Cup, Younus said that it was good to see the media and people not reacting negatively to Pakistan’s 29-run defeat at the hands of India in the semi final clash on March 30. (ANI)