Younis Khan thanks Indian great Rahul Dravid for his success
Pakistan's in-form batsman Younis Khan said Indian great Rahul Dravid has helped him a lot in developing his cricketing career. He gave credit to Dravid for advising him at a crucial stage when it needed, reports www.ibnlive.com.
"The tips and advice I got from Dravid at the early stages of my career helped me develop into a top batsman who was comfortable at the number three position," he said. "Dravid was a top class professional and one of the greats of the modern era and I learnt from him."
The right-handed batsman also accepted that giving away captaincy was a big mistake in 2009.
"When I was made captain in 2009 I had told the then Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board Ijaz Butt that if I didn't deliver I would resign from the captaincy myself.
"I decided to resign as captain when we were in Abu Dhabi playing against New Zealand in late 2009 because I felt I couldn't deliver as I couldn't unite the team."
He complemented Ijaz Butt for his strong decisions and stands.
"Ijaz was ready to take hard decisions even with players. He supported me a lot as captain and he was the one who made me the captain and we went onto win the World T20 Cup in England in 2009."
The middle-order batsman has shown interest in leading the country again by saying if opportunity comes, he'll proudly lead the country again.
"No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. I also made mistakes and one of them was to leave the captaincy. But now I realise it is a big honour to lead your country and If I get a chance to lead the team again I will do it," he said.
Younis left T20 cricket soon after his first stint in Indian Premier League with Rajasthan Royals team where he got to play only one match. He said that was one major reason behind his decision to quit.
"Yes, it is true I was not happy when I got to play just one match for the Rajasthan team in the IPL. I don't know what were the reasons for captain Shane Warne to not play me. But I felt offended that even though we had qualified for the knockout stage with a few matches remaining in the league stage they still gave me just one match."
"But to be honest after looking at the environment in the first IPL I don't think I would have been able to adjust there as well myself," he said.
When he was asked about the current situation of IPL and the tainted mark which has been stamped on it after the 2013 spot-fixing scandal rocked it, he casually replied saying big money always bring big problems.
"Look where there is big money there will always be scandals. This is life. The element of greed is always present. But it is good for the players as they are earning well and it is good entertainment for the people as well."
Younis has played 101 Test matches for Pakistan in which he has scored 8814 runs at an average of 54.07.