Younus Khan retires from T20 after world final win

Pakistan captain Younus Khan announced his retirement from T20 internationals after leading his side to victory in the 2009 Twenty20 final against Sri Lanka at Lord's here on Sunday.
"This is my last Twenty20 game (for Pakistan), so I am retiring from T20 internationals," Younus said after Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets.
"I am now 34, I am old for this kind of cricket. The good thing is we have a couple of good youngsters like Shahzaib (Hasan) and Ahmad Shahzad."
However, gifted batsman Younus - who has appeared in 60 Tests and 186 one-day internationals - is set to continue his international career in the longer formats of the game.

It's our turn now, says Pakistan's Younus

Pakistan captain Younus Khan wants his team to win the World Twenty20 title to bring joy to the millions in his volatile country starved of big-time cricket.
"We are one match away and we will do our best to win," said Younus after his team knocked out favourites South Africa in Thursday's semi-final at Trent Bridge here.
"We want to make people back home happy. Winning the title will mean a lot to them and that will inspire us in the final. One more game and the World Cup will be ours."
Pakistan has become the pariah of world cricket after being shunned by foreign teams due to security concerns which forced the Champions Trophy and World Cup matches to be shifted out of the country.
Pakistan, runners-up to India in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa two years ago, will play either Sri Lanka or the West Indies in the final at Lord's on Sunday.
Younus said it did not matter who Pakistan play in the final, but admitted he will keenly watch the second semi-final at the Oval on Friday.
"We will keep track of both Sri Lanka and the West Indies. They are tough sides but we are not worried who we play.
"We will just go out and put our best effort, like we did against South Africa."
Pakistan rode on a brilliant all-round performance by Shahid Afridi to pip South Africa by seven runs and end the Proteas' five-match winning streak in the tournament.
Afridi smashed 51 from 34 balls and then grabbed 2-16 with his leg-spin as Pakistan successfully defended 149-4 to restrict the favoured Proteas to 142-5 before a sell-out crowd at Trent Bridge.
"Afridi is the sort of player who wins games on his own," said Younus. "He has done it here and I know he wants to repeat this in the final as well."
Younus said the five-run defeat by India in the 2007 final at the Wanderers in Johannesburg still hurt, and he hoped the team will not make the same mistake again.
"We felt terrible after losing that one. You come so close and then it all goes away. Hopefully, we will do better this time."
Pakistan bounced back twice over the last two weeks to keep their hopes alive.
Younus' men lost their opening preliminary match against England, but then thrashed the Netherlands to advance to the Super Eights.
There was another defeat in the second round against Sri Lanka, but Pakistan came back strongly to defeat New Zealand in a key game before overpowering Ireland to make the semi-finals.
"We are slow starters, but we have shown through this tournament that we can match any other side on our day and will take a lot to beat us," said Younus.
Against South Africa, Afridi plundered eight boundaries, including four in succession off Johan Botha, after Pakistan elected to bat on a wicket that slowed down as the evening progressed.
Veteran Jacques Kallis made a brave attempt to take the South Africans home, striking seven fours and a six in 64 from 54 balls, but the other batsmen faltered against the spot-on attack.
It did not matter at the end that Pakistan, who were 120-3 after 15 overs, failed to build on the early advantage and managed just 29 runs in the final five overs.

Younus glad Pakistan back on world stage

Pakistan captain Younus Khan said the upcoming ICC World Twenty20 in England had a special significance for his side after their country had become a virtual 'no-go zone' for international cricket.
A terror attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in March saw seven of their players and English assistant coach Paul Farbrace injured.
Eight Pakistanis, including six security force personnel, were killed.
With no international side willing to travel to Pakistan, Younus's men recently returned to international action in the United Arab Emirates against Australia, where they lost 3-2 in a one-day series but won the lone Twenty20.
"It is special to be back on the world stage, especially in Twenty20 and in England, the media are here so lots of hopes are here," the talented batsman told reporters at Lord's here on Sunday.
"We are suffering from not playing regularly, and no-one is coming to Pakistan," he added.
Pakistan endured a nailbiting defeat at the hands of arch-rivals India in the 2007 World Twenty20 final in South Africa and Younus would love nothing more than for his team to go one better this time.
"My confidence is that I'll take this trophy to Pakistan," he said. But such has been Pakistan's relative lack of international cricket that he added: "It will be an achievement for us to finish in the top four."
Reflecting on the 2007 final, Younus said: "The finishing touches were not there. We needed only five runs. But it was fantastic to be a part of that team in the final.
"Some guys were crying at the end, but hopefully we'll have the finishing touches," Younus said.
Twenty20 tends to put a premium on big-hitting batsmen at the start of the innings but Younus, whose team face England and the Netherlands in Group B, said it was not necessary to start going for big shots right from the off.
"Twenty20 looks short, but it's not - 120 balls is enough.
"If you bat normally but with energy, especially in the middle order and with good runners between the wickets, 180-90 is very easy.
"In English conditions the new ball does seam, so you need someone like Salman Butt who can play for 20 overs. But in the middle order, we have big hitters like Shahid Afridi and Misbah-Ul-Haq."
English officials have already announced that plans are well advanced for Pakistan to play two Tests against Australia in England next year as well as a series with Andrew Strauss's men.
Large Asian communities in England provide Pakistan with a ready-made fan base and Younus said: "Playing in England is everyone's dream. My first Test at Lord's was fantastic for me.
"England is the home of cricket, it is an achievement for us to play Tests here, and maybe ODIs too. It's good for the youngsters to play in England and the old guys have a lot of friends here.
"We need the passion in Twenty20 and in England, a lot of followers all the time, a lot of cities have Pakistanis and Indians. That's the main reason I'm happy to be in England."
Younus added: "If we play good cricket it will be good for our nation. These days all the nation is depressed.
"Only cricket - if we play well and win something - they will cheer. To finish in the top four, my nation will come again and start cheering."

Younus hopes Pakistan go one better in World T20

Pakistan captain Younus Khan is confident his team can go one better in the World Twenty20 after finishing runners-up last time to bitter rivals India.
Two years ago, Pakistan lost a nailbiting final against India by five runs in Johannesburg, a loss that Younus insists his team is eager to put behind them.
"We want to win the title," said Younus. "We have the talent, but it's a tough competition where other eleven teams will do their best to finish at the top."
Pakistan are in Group B, along with hosts England and the Netherlands, in first round of the competition which runs from June 5-21.
They take on England June 7 before facing the Netherlands two days later.
The second round Super Eight stages should give Pakistan an easy draw with likely rivals being New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
But Younus is not taking any team lightly.
"We need to be at our best even against the Netherlands because no team is small or big," said Younus who was referring to Pakistan's defeat to Ireland at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean which sent them packing from the tournament.
That defeat was the start of a dark chapter in Pakistan's cricket history.
Coach Bob Woolmer died at the tournament while captain Inzamam-ul-Haq retired.
Shoaib Malik, who was handed the captaincy after Younus refused to lead the team, restored some normalcy by taking Pakistan to the runners-up spot at the inaugural World Twenty20.
Malik then lost the captaincy after Pakistan's one-day defeat against Sri Lanka earlier this year. That led to Younus taking over the hot seat.
Under Younus, Pakistan lost 3-2 to Australia in a recent one-day series in the United Arab Emirates, but won the one-off Twenty20 match.
Younus said Pakistan's preparations have been satisfactory.
"We beat Australia in the Twenty20 match which was a good morale booster and then had a good conditioning camp and some practice matches which tuned us well for England," said Younus, whose team has the best win ratio in all Twenty20.
Pakistan have won eight of their 11 internationals with two defeats and one tied match.
Pakistan will heavily rely on paceman Umar Gul who has taken the most wickets (24 in 14 matches) in this newest form of the game and with injury-prone Shoaib Akhtar pulled out of the team, his responsibility has increased.
Rao Iftikhar, who replaced Akhtar in the squad, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat and rookie paceman Mohammad Aamir complete the fast bowling line-up.
The 17-year-old Aamir is tipped to surprise with his speed and swing in English conditions.
Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal and Shoaib Malik lead the the spin department which has the ability to stop runs and take wickets.
Off-spinner Ajmal received a boost ahead of the event when his action was cleared by the International Cricket Council.
Younus hoped his own batting form improves to help lift an otherwise inconsistent line-up which also has opener Salman Butt, Misbah-ul-Haq, Malik Afridi and in-form Kamran Akmal..