Ramiz : Pakistan captain failing to inspire

[Ali888]

ABU DHABI (AFP) — Former captain Ramiz Raja on Saturday said Younus Khan was not on form and failing to inspire a struggling Pakistan with Australia commanding an unassailable lead in their one-day series.

The current Pakistan captain has not been in the best of form, scoring just 46 runs in the first four matches of the series as Australia took a 3-1 lead ahead of the last match here on Sunday.

He scored 11 in Pakistan's hard-fought four-wicket win in the first match in Dubai.

Raja said a batsman captain must score to inspire his team's batting.

"The most worrying thing is that Younus has not been in the best of form. He is averaging below 10 in one-dayers in 2009, so it is not inspiring his batsmen and Younus must lift his batting to inspire his struggling batting," said Raja, now a commentator.

"In a nutshell, it (captaincy) comes in a package. You learn a lot of things which include team selection, strategies and pre-match planning and Younus will learn with time," said Raja.

He said Younus should learn from his Australian counterpart Michael Clarke, who hit a match-winning 100 not out to steer Australia to a comfortable eight-wicket win over Pakistan in the fourth match here on Friday.

"I think Younus must learn from Clarke," he said.

"Clarke has led the batting from the front and although he struggled in the second match he remained stuck there and has been shouldering the batting since then, while Younus has not managed a big score," said Raja.

Clarke also hit a fighting 66 and took three wickets to help Australia beat Pakistan by 27 runs in the third match here on Monday.

He managed 39 in the second match played in Dubai, which Australia won by six wickets last week.

Younus replaced Shoaib Malik, who was sacked following Pakistan's 2-1 defeat against Sri Lanka in February this year.

Raja suggested Younus leave the burden of captaincy behind whenever he goes out to the crease.

"He is Pakistan's best and the senior most batsman, so what I would suggest is that when he goes out to bat he must think as a batsman and should not take the burden of captaincy."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iWQqaw5m2Lii_pibJStPLUzW1MXg

[Gollum]

The thing is Younis Khan never was a great ODI batsman. He struggled to make his place in the ODI side for years. He needs to take pressure off himself by batting down the order, perhaps at 5th or 6th position. #3 is the most vital position and the best and most competent batsman of the team must be sent at that position. Through out this series, he looked more at ease fielding even though he as a batsman should have relished the challenge.

[Bublu Bhuyan]

The thing is Younis Khan never was a great ODI batsman. He struggled to make his place in the ODI side for years. He needs to take pressure off himself by batting down the order, perhaps at 5th or 6th position. #3 is the most vital position and the best and most competent batsman of the team must be sent at that position. Through out this series, he looked more at ease fielding even though he as a batsman should have relished the challenge.
Tend to agree with you. An average of 33.45 and a strike rate of 77.22 is just not acceptable. For his strike rate, and average of 36 or higher in my opinion is a must. His current average would have been acceptable if only he possessed a higher strike rate of above 85 or so.

[Savak]

His place in the side will come under pressure which will put him under some pressure. Clarke has risen to the occasion in this series. YK failed the test this series but he does deserve some time to get things right. But he needs to take these defeats seriously and atleast not come out with riddiculous statements like he found it funny how his team collapsed from 90-0 to 177 all out. That is not on, Imran Khan would have murdered a couple of players if this happened under his reign.

[Xohaib]

I think his average batting at no 3 must be higher,he played a lot in his career at not 5 and 6.

[Ali888]

Time for him to step aside and let Fawad Alam plan for 2011

[saeed-sohail]

Time for him to step aside and let Fawad Alam plan for 2011
And time for you to stop posting this rubbish here.
Younus will come good given time not asking for his head after his first series as captain.dont forget this guy is one of the best test batsman around and ppl going on abt his avg look at his stats in last 2 years and come back.

[Ali888]

I'll stop posting my 'rubbish' if he stops playing and captaining in a rubbish fashion at odds with his vaunted 'Imran Khan style captaincy' claims.

[infamous9383]

Time for him to step aside and let Fawad Alam plan for 2011

:)))

I like fawad but he doesn't even make the playing XI(not his fault). You want to make him captain.

[Bublu Bhuyan]

An observation after just 1 Test and 4 ODI's ?

[Omar Malik]

There has always been loads of statements coming out from the Pak camp before, during and after a series and all are just we will do this we did this we will look to do this etc; Why not just keep it shut and concentrate on the game for a change and let others see for themselves that yeah they surely have done something that they are playing really well!

[cricwiz]

I think his average batting at no 3 must be higher,he played a lot in his career at not 5 and 6.

Its not the case, his avg at No. 3 position is strangely similiar to his overall batting career avg. As No. 3 he avgs 33.43 with strike rate 75.87...

So as others have suggested, No. 3 seems to be not a suitable position for him in ODIs.

[Omar Malik]

Where has all the pre-talk gone now of YK saying that I didnt want to lead the team before as I was not performing myself so how will I ask the others to lift their game and now look what he's going through - A rough patch eh?! Oh well we can all hope that they look back at this series very seriously and carefully and pinpoint the blunders and mistakes they made!

[Lethal]

An observation after just 1 Test and 4 ODI's ?

Well thats what you get from Pakistani fans.

[Bublu Bhuyan]

Well thats what you get from Pakistani fans.
To be fair to Younis, he needs to be given at least a year or so to made amendments. He is not a magician who can simply take out his magic stick and solve all the problems. And apart from him, there are no options either.

[Lethal]

To be fair to Younis, he needs to be given at least a year or so to made amendments. He is not a magician who can simply take out his magic stick and solve all the problems. And apart from him, there are no options either.

Which is what he said at the start when he first accepted the captaincy. I agree give him some time and let him get some players back.

[Kriketer]

We fans need to work with some patience. Yonus has shown good leadership qualities so far other than few laughing comments to media. He played under pressure b/c of which he didn't perform well with the bat. Team's batting seemed completely rusty and clueless underpressure too. They need to tackle these obstacles to put stronger shows in the future, if not then no captain can ever make any difference.

[haseebbabar]

man the shuld try malik or fawad alam at three while yunus can play at no 5 to help lower order ...

[zam]

yonus, malik, shoaib, misbah, both butts and kamran akmal are curse for pakistan cricket at least for one dayers.....

[kingusama92]

How long has he been here?? Holy mackeral the guy is not some magician that can turn everything around in an instant.

[midwicket]

For a moment there, I thought Ramiz was talking about himself.

[Lethal]

How long has he been here?? Holy mackeral the guy is not some magician that can turn everything around in an instant.

Exactly.

[Bublu Bhuyan]

For a moment there, I thought Ramiz was talking about himself.
How can he talk about himself ? I mean he ain't the Pakistan captain currently for sure :D

[VandeMataram]

Younis couldn't take action against Misbah and Malik coz he's faring worse than them, he's in no position to criticize them.

Younis need to play batter as a batsman, he will never become a great OD player, but he can at least do an average job for the team with the bat.