So what if Pakistan lost!

Muhammad Asim, impersonating for Younis Khan, finds a virtue in Pakistan’s recent debacle

Commentator: Younis, how would you sum up team’s pathetic performance in such a big event?
Younis Khan: Bismillah Hirah’Manir Raheem! First of all thanks to Allah that we lost. Because nothing fails like success; you don’t learn from success you learn only from failure. We are unique because we do not learn either way, we have our own ways or learning, which are known to us only and I am not allowed to share with you. I am sorry for that. So in short, one can say that there is a blessing in disguise. The boys are obviously very happy that it was a team effort. The good thing about our side is that they just not only put up as a team in victories but in defeats too. So here is clue for you that we are working as a team.

Commentator: Pakistan lost a match from a commanding position. Your thoughts?
Younis Khan: It is just Allah’s will that we failed to win the match. So there is nothing much we can do about it. You should also keep in mind that we reduced South Africa to 42 for five and why we didn’t try to bowl them out is because the match would have been over so early and you know there is lots of advertising and booking involved on TV channels. Plus the spectators would not have liked such a short match as they paid in full. So, you see there are a lot of hidden factors involved. Cricket is not always about just winning. It teaches self-sacrifice and you know we never miss the chance to learn and lose! Secondly, South Africa is also a good team and as you know they always choke in the final stages of the big event. You should remember what happened to them in 1992 World Cup then in 1996 and in 1999. In 2003 too, Sri Lanka ended their run. So, in a team meeting we decided to always take care of opposition’s rights and that is why I have said we did our best.

Commentator: But people had huge expectations from your side after Pakistan won against Sri Lanka? People believe their Eid was spoiled as you sunk without a straw twice in three days?
Younis Khan: Leave a thought of Bangladesh, they just played the qualifying round and left. Aren’t they Muslim too? What about their Eid? Being a Muslim, there is no surety that you would win on your religious festivals. Have you ever witnessed any foreign team saying that they should win on Christmas, Easter or on Diwali? I assume that’s why Test matches always start on Boxing Day (Dec 26) and not a day earlier. Secondly, I can’t understand why ICC didn’t put us in the qualifying round and why they had West Indies there? But I am sure next time would join Bangladesh. So what if we couldn’t make it to semis? Imagine if we had reached the semis and had to face India and lost then people would have said that “iss say to acha hota k semi-final mein jatay he naa” We atleast won against Sri Lanka. So take some heart from it. If we hadn’t won against them then people would have said that we failed to win a single match. So you see it is always difficult to keep every one happy all the time. When we lost to New Zealand we thought we would win against South Africa just because we are not consistent in our wins so why should we be in our loss? But I am really amazed that we lost again. But, please try to see from this angle - we have achieved atleast some consistency, even by losing two matches on trot! But mark my words - people would still say that we are not consistent. You know people always complain!

Commentator: Would you agree that some of the poor strokes played by the Pakistani batsman literally brought the demise of the team? They shouldn’t be playing the shots they played?
Younis Khan: Being a Muslim you must remember that we can just try and the rest is in Allah’s hands. If Imran Farhat slashes outside of the off-stump then he is doing his best, it is Allah’s will if he gets an edge or a top-edge or it is carried to the keeper or goes to the boundary or straight into the hands of the fielder. In the last two matches when myself and Afridi skied the ball we just try to hit over the moon into the Jerusalem but see at the moment it is not Allah’s will but atleast we tried.

Commentator: So what for future now. West Indies would be touring you and then you would be touring South Africa and then the biggie – The World Cup?
Younis Khan: As, I said earlier, the world rests on hope. I am not certain if we would win because as a Muslim only Allah knows the unknown. Against West Indies, yeah we would have home advantage but also keep in mind the home pressure. Our people expect a lot when we are at home as compared to when we play abroad. So we usually crumble under such pressure. And West Indies are no babes of cricket. In the recent past they had some very poor performances in away tours and people don’t believe if they belong to the same nation whom once people called the “Mighty West Indies”. So it hurts me a lot too and we would try to give them some consolation wins atleast. One should not be mean in winning. Other teams also play to win, so I hope you have got the idea. Right? For South African tour and the World Cup, it is too early to say anything but we would love to start the ventures as underdogs. You know we perform best when we are labeled as underdogs.