Énergetic' Younis Khan raring to go!

'Energetic' Younis Khan raring to go

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan has said he is raring to go in the five-match ODI series against Australia, beginning in Brisbane on Friday. Younis will be returning after a two-month absence from the team, having taken an indefinite break following Pakistan's 2-1 ODI series loss to New Zealand in Abu Dhabi.


Younis had claimed then that he had "lost command" of his side, amid reports that there was unhappiness within the team over his leadership. He went underground immediately after, only to resurface suddenly while attending a PCB coaching course in Lahore. His stint with Habib Bank Limited on the domestic circuit yielded little as well - 29 runs in two matches.


Ushered back into a 17-man squad for the ODIs to help lift a side that was trounced 3-0 in the Test series, Younis said he had reached Australia feeling ''energetic''. ''If you look at my last four or five years - it has just been back-to-back travelling and I was just tired and I missed my family,'' Younis told AAP. ''That was the main reason for me leaving - I needed some time for myself and my family. I got that and now I am back and I feel energetic. I had a really good time with my family so I am feeling very good at the moment.''


Mohammad Yousuf, who was appointed captain in Younis' absence for the Test series in New Zealand and Australia, had in fact criticised the Pakistan selectors for not sending Younis to Australia earlier to bolster the inexperienced side.


However, Younis said the Test series was contested more closely than the score line suggested. ''I watched the matches and I thought we were really unlucky in that second Test in Sydney,'' he said. ''It was very close. It was a whitewash but it wasn't like it was totally one-sided. We have a very young side at the moment - I thought we fought really hard.''


Pakistan will also welcome back Shahid Afridi and Naved-ul-Hasan for the upcoming series, both of whom played the Twenty Big Bash as part of Australian state teams. Younis believed that Pakistan's fortune would change in the limited-overs leg of the tour, which also included a Twenty20. "This team, everyday, is different," Younis said. "We are young, as everyone knows, but when we lose a couple of games we have fought back. In the one-dayers, I think things will start over - things will be very different."