Abdullah719
T20I Captain
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2013
- Runs
- 44,826
"PCB want people who won't stand up in front of them and will do as they are told" : Younis Khan
Younis Khan on the 29th Sep edition of Game On Hai on PTV Sports:
Importance of Rashid Latif
"When I was playing club cricket, I was a fielder. Rashid Latif had trust in me. I stood at mid-on or mid-off. I was lucky when I started cricket, Rashid Latif came to me. He was a top player at the time and was also on and off the captain. A good thing about him was that he would sit down with us at the club. I was lucky to have someone with me who changed my whole cricket, I made him my role model. He was a very good role model for how to talk, how to play cricket etc."
"If I look at myself, I can say I got a good family and after that, I found a person who taught me to handle pressure, how to play cricket with those people who don't like you, which happened with me"
"This happened with me, 7-8 players stood up in front of me and most of them were players who I raised up. 4 were out, playing ICL, IPL etc. and 4 were in the corner. Rashid bhai sacrificed himself and saved them, and now they are very big stars. Some are Pakistan's nose, someone is Pakistan's shaan, someone is Pakistan's ear, someone is Pakistan's head, someone is in this committee, someone is in that committee. These people played with Pakistan, they did that with their mother, I can't say that word. So I'm lucky I had a good family and after that I found a person here in Rashid Latif who told me how to go forward. Then I met others like Bob Woolmer and some players but for my 10,000 runs, credit goes to Rashid bhai"
How did Younis Khan survive in the Pakistan team culture
"Whenever my managers or coaches invited me, I set my timings in such a way that I can't go here and there. So I set the timings about not going outside, not eating food, not going shopping. I had gym in the morning, breakfast time, namaz time, etc. It's not easy. They tolerated this due to my performances. Whenever I went through a bad patch, I would call my mother and tell her there's an important match coming up and she would encourage. From nowhere, people would be talking and would be ready to put my career in the grave, and I would play a big innings"
"For me, I felt that if I don't perform in a match then I would be on the verge of being dropped. When I performed in every match, no one would take notice. So this attitude hardened me so much that I didn't worry about anything"
"I made a sacrifice by never going and making any statements, I just said that performing is my job, I get paid for that and I need to fulfil expectations so I tried to remain positive always, which helped me to survive"
Early days with Pakistan team
"In New Zealand, the team's performance was so poor that they had to call other players. In the ODIs, we lost badly with top players, everyone was intent on running away. So they had to call in players, so they called me. In the first match, we were in a tough position in the first innings and I made 91. Then in 2nd innings, my innings of 149 is the one I would call the best innings of my life. The coach was saying things and I was ignoring everything, the ball was coming and I was hitting it. The others weren't being able to play. I was on 149* and Faisal Iqbal played out 3 overs because the bowling was so tough so I couldn't get 150 because the declaration was already planned"
"My collar was standing, but only when I played cricket, not after that. I was once bowling so Thorpe did something so I laughed so Rashid bhai came to me and told me don't laugh, you're playing for Pakistan. Be serious. So look at the approach. This was my mentor and this was how serious we were about playing for the country"
U19 coaching saga
"In life, I have no regrets about anything and once something is done, I don't think about what might have happened. What I regret is that I lowered my value too much. The reason for that was that when the Chairman comes to you and says 'my child you have no option' and you still have to do this and that for Pakistan... So I agreed to what the Chairman said. Then I regretted so much that I accepted those terms, as a Pakistani. I lost my value there because it was about Pakistan, it was about the kids. I think their problem was that the Chief Selector is taking this much, this person is taking that much. What do I have to do with that?"
"PCB don't want Rashid Latif, Younis Khan, etc., they don't want a support staff for the kids. They want people for themselves who come and just ask what do you want sir, OK bhai. I am talking about U19 team, Pakistan team. They will select those people who they have a past with, I won't say yes-men but those people who they know won't stand up in front of them and will just do as they are told. There's a few other people also like Shoaib Akhtar, they don't want such people, they want people who will just salute PCB"
"PCB didn't give any statement, they just leaked it here and there saying that oh he wanted too much money, he wanted too much power, he wanted to change the whole system to Karachi. There was no such thing, Money was 15 lakh, how much after tax? 12-13 lakhs. How much am I getting for PSL? $90,000, 14-15 lakh PKR? Then endorsements? I was doing less of those due to my mother's illness. They had my tax returns papers"
"I made my own contract, I said I will only do my work here and do nothing else besides that (give up PSL contract etc.) because I want to lift up U19 cricket, I want to construct it. It would involve 6 month travelling around Pakistan. Six best people, 3 selectors, 1 in KPK, 1 in Punjab, these would be in offices not just on the phone, they would report on a daily basis. 1 person from PCB who would update everything and myself and Nadeem Khan will be in Karachi and handle here and Balochistan. If he couldn't travel, I would travel every 15 days for 2 days. I told PCB I don't want anything, I eat a little and I don't have other activities. Just give me a ticket, any class, to Balochistan it's not a long flight. Give me a tiny room in National Stadium as an office. My trainer would bring all the junior trainers in Pakistan on board and take a report on a daily, weekly basis. The selectors will stay in touch with each other and I will go personally in the next 6 months and identify each person. This was the package from my side"
"I made one more mistake which I regret, besides me asking for very less for a package, I was thinking I should ask for something small that they accept. But the other mistake was to share all my plans. Now these things will be implemented and you will see them, it's my fault"
"We saw there is Imran Khan's Naya Pakistan. There is nothing. PCB want people who go according to their ideas, they don't want coaches, selectors etc. for the players. They just want to say we tried to get these people on board, they didn't agree"
"It's a good thing that the 2 big bosses didn't say anything... if they did, they I would come in the ground. They never said anything about it. A lot of media people wanted me to talk and say something, I said no, not until PCB officially say something"
Domestic cricket
"This new model for domestic cricket, from Australia. Who played cricket from Pakistan in Australia? I played Sheffield Shield. They had Grade cricket there. I met Mike and David Hussey during the start, they asked did I play grade cricket? They said it's district club cricket. 2 day match. Saturday, Sunday, one innings on each day. Very important. When I play at home, I can leave grass on the pitch and bowl, or next week keep a clear pitch if batting first. 71 overs cricket, if you bat for 50 overs then the other team gets 21 + 71. 1 point for 3 wickets, 2 for 6, 3 for 9, batting points also for 200, 250, 300, 350, maximum 400. I played one match and the South Australia Chairman thanked me at a reception. Not for playing for his team, but for playing Grade Cricket. I got a few wickets and made some runs, that's how much importance this grade cricket had"
"Their grade 2 cricket is such: If I'm playing for the senior team and I'm out of form, I come to grade 2 which is the 2nd XI, I come and do my batting and go home. So 2nd XI is to feed players for the main team. The coach told me go and bat twice and come back, you don't need to field. Does Haroon bhai know this?"
"We shouldn't talk about fixing the system, we should talk about when did it get spoiled? It was the time when we left association cricket and went to regional cricket. It's important that we look at our past mistakes. Why do we need to copy paste from others? PSL is whose? It's ours. You have so many people sitting there in the media team. The SL team gets attacked. I won't take names. I came, I was the captain and asked the media is standing there, why is nobody answering? Everyone hid and said you please answer. I called the Chairman and he said the same. I said why should I do that? What is the media department for"
"These guys who walk (spreading their arms wide) now, I said Allahu akbar, astaghfirullah, walk like a human being. They all hid away that time and said please go and talk to them"
"So my point is to stop the copy paste and do some work. If we look at the past, I was in Karachi and I couldn't play for Karachi, the team was so tough. I went to Peshawar and only got a chance there when players left to join the A team. There was no problem until the votes of the regional system came in. I am a firm believer that depts. should play separately and that will happen because players are still associated with them. Depts. do everything themselves, I am a product of depts. If I didn't get 5000 rupees from HBL then I wouldn't have 10k runs today. How many people since 1952 made 10k runs for Pakistan? So I am a product of that system, which they spoiled 6 times. Everyone comes and changes this and that"
"Make things easy for domestic cricket players, it's a failure that top players are saying they don't want to play FC cricket. System is good for those kids from club cricket who have 30k or 50k rupees. You can't make a building by standing on people's heads or by killing them, you need to answer Allah also"
"I could have taken 15 lakhs, said I want to work with PSL also, do my endorsements, walk (spreading arms around) with my collars up. No, it's not like that. My mother was on her death bed and I said I will do this, this, this, this and this. And that's why everyone says salam to me even today"
"PSL was a big product, but I wasn't in it initially. Now I've been there for the last 3 seasons and all I see is empty stadiums, boys are crying everyday. I think it was a product in the first seasons, since the past 3 seasons it's just time pass"
Younis Khan on the 29th Sep edition of Game On Hai on PTV Sports:
Importance of Rashid Latif
"When I was playing club cricket, I was a fielder. Rashid Latif had trust in me. I stood at mid-on or mid-off. I was lucky when I started cricket, Rashid Latif came to me. He was a top player at the time and was also on and off the captain. A good thing about him was that he would sit down with us at the club. I was lucky to have someone with me who changed my whole cricket, I made him my role model. He was a very good role model for how to talk, how to play cricket etc."
"If I look at myself, I can say I got a good family and after that, I found a person who taught me to handle pressure, how to play cricket with those people who don't like you, which happened with me"
"This happened with me, 7-8 players stood up in front of me and most of them were players who I raised up. 4 were out, playing ICL, IPL etc. and 4 were in the corner. Rashid bhai sacrificed himself and saved them, and now they are very big stars. Some are Pakistan's nose, someone is Pakistan's shaan, someone is Pakistan's ear, someone is Pakistan's head, someone is in this committee, someone is in that committee. These people played with Pakistan, they did that with their mother, I can't say that word. So I'm lucky I had a good family and after that I found a person here in Rashid Latif who told me how to go forward. Then I met others like Bob Woolmer and some players but for my 10,000 runs, credit goes to Rashid bhai"
How did Younis Khan survive in the Pakistan team culture
"Whenever my managers or coaches invited me, I set my timings in such a way that I can't go here and there. So I set the timings about not going outside, not eating food, not going shopping. I had gym in the morning, breakfast time, namaz time, etc. It's not easy. They tolerated this due to my performances. Whenever I went through a bad patch, I would call my mother and tell her there's an important match coming up and she would encourage. From nowhere, people would be talking and would be ready to put my career in the grave, and I would play a big innings"
"For me, I felt that if I don't perform in a match then I would be on the verge of being dropped. When I performed in every match, no one would take notice. So this attitude hardened me so much that I didn't worry about anything"
"I made a sacrifice by never going and making any statements, I just said that performing is my job, I get paid for that and I need to fulfil expectations so I tried to remain positive always, which helped me to survive"
Early days with Pakistan team
"In New Zealand, the team's performance was so poor that they had to call other players. In the ODIs, we lost badly with top players, everyone was intent on running away. So they had to call in players, so they called me. In the first match, we were in a tough position in the first innings and I made 91. Then in 2nd innings, my innings of 149 is the one I would call the best innings of my life. The coach was saying things and I was ignoring everything, the ball was coming and I was hitting it. The others weren't being able to play. I was on 149* and Faisal Iqbal played out 3 overs because the bowling was so tough so I couldn't get 150 because the declaration was already planned"
"My collar was standing, but only when I played cricket, not after that. I was once bowling so Thorpe did something so I laughed so Rashid bhai came to me and told me don't laugh, you're playing for Pakistan. Be serious. So look at the approach. This was my mentor and this was how serious we were about playing for the country"
U19 coaching saga
"In life, I have no regrets about anything and once something is done, I don't think about what might have happened. What I regret is that I lowered my value too much. The reason for that was that when the Chairman comes to you and says 'my child you have no option' and you still have to do this and that for Pakistan... So I agreed to what the Chairman said. Then I regretted so much that I accepted those terms, as a Pakistani. I lost my value there because it was about Pakistan, it was about the kids. I think their problem was that the Chief Selector is taking this much, this person is taking that much. What do I have to do with that?"
"PCB don't want Rashid Latif, Younis Khan, etc., they don't want a support staff for the kids. They want people for themselves who come and just ask what do you want sir, OK bhai. I am talking about U19 team, Pakistan team. They will select those people who they have a past with, I won't say yes-men but those people who they know won't stand up in front of them and will just do as they are told. There's a few other people also like Shoaib Akhtar, they don't want such people, they want people who will just salute PCB"
"PCB didn't give any statement, they just leaked it here and there saying that oh he wanted too much money, he wanted too much power, he wanted to change the whole system to Karachi. There was no such thing, Money was 15 lakh, how much after tax? 12-13 lakhs. How much am I getting for PSL? $90,000, 14-15 lakh PKR? Then endorsements? I was doing less of those due to my mother's illness. They had my tax returns papers"
"I made my own contract, I said I will only do my work here and do nothing else besides that (give up PSL contract etc.) because I want to lift up U19 cricket, I want to construct it. It would involve 6 month travelling around Pakistan. Six best people, 3 selectors, 1 in KPK, 1 in Punjab, these would be in offices not just on the phone, they would report on a daily basis. 1 person from PCB who would update everything and myself and Nadeem Khan will be in Karachi and handle here and Balochistan. If he couldn't travel, I would travel every 15 days for 2 days. I told PCB I don't want anything, I eat a little and I don't have other activities. Just give me a ticket, any class, to Balochistan it's not a long flight. Give me a tiny room in National Stadium as an office. My trainer would bring all the junior trainers in Pakistan on board and take a report on a daily, weekly basis. The selectors will stay in touch with each other and I will go personally in the next 6 months and identify each person. This was the package from my side"
"I made one more mistake which I regret, besides me asking for very less for a package, I was thinking I should ask for something small that they accept. But the other mistake was to share all my plans. Now these things will be implemented and you will see them, it's my fault"
"We saw there is Imran Khan's Naya Pakistan. There is nothing. PCB want people who go according to their ideas, they don't want coaches, selectors etc. for the players. They just want to say we tried to get these people on board, they didn't agree"
"It's a good thing that the 2 big bosses didn't say anything... if they did, they I would come in the ground. They never said anything about it. A lot of media people wanted me to talk and say something, I said no, not until PCB officially say something"
Domestic cricket
"This new model for domestic cricket, from Australia. Who played cricket from Pakistan in Australia? I played Sheffield Shield. They had Grade cricket there. I met Mike and David Hussey during the start, they asked did I play grade cricket? They said it's district club cricket. 2 day match. Saturday, Sunday, one innings on each day. Very important. When I play at home, I can leave grass on the pitch and bowl, or next week keep a clear pitch if batting first. 71 overs cricket, if you bat for 50 overs then the other team gets 21 + 71. 1 point for 3 wickets, 2 for 6, 3 for 9, batting points also for 200, 250, 300, 350, maximum 400. I played one match and the South Australia Chairman thanked me at a reception. Not for playing for his team, but for playing Grade Cricket. I got a few wickets and made some runs, that's how much importance this grade cricket had"
"Their grade 2 cricket is such: If I'm playing for the senior team and I'm out of form, I come to grade 2 which is the 2nd XI, I come and do my batting and go home. So 2nd XI is to feed players for the main team. The coach told me go and bat twice and come back, you don't need to field. Does Haroon bhai know this?"
"We shouldn't talk about fixing the system, we should talk about when did it get spoiled? It was the time when we left association cricket and went to regional cricket. It's important that we look at our past mistakes. Why do we need to copy paste from others? PSL is whose? It's ours. You have so many people sitting there in the media team. The SL team gets attacked. I won't take names. I came, I was the captain and asked the media is standing there, why is nobody answering? Everyone hid and said you please answer. I called the Chairman and he said the same. I said why should I do that? What is the media department for"
"These guys who walk (spreading their arms wide) now, I said Allahu akbar, astaghfirullah, walk like a human being. They all hid away that time and said please go and talk to them"
"So my point is to stop the copy paste and do some work. If we look at the past, I was in Karachi and I couldn't play for Karachi, the team was so tough. I went to Peshawar and only got a chance there when players left to join the A team. There was no problem until the votes of the regional system came in. I am a firm believer that depts. should play separately and that will happen because players are still associated with them. Depts. do everything themselves, I am a product of depts. If I didn't get 5000 rupees from HBL then I wouldn't have 10k runs today. How many people since 1952 made 10k runs for Pakistan? So I am a product of that system, which they spoiled 6 times. Everyone comes and changes this and that"
"Make things easy for domestic cricket players, it's a failure that top players are saying they don't want to play FC cricket. System is good for those kids from club cricket who have 30k or 50k rupees. You can't make a building by standing on people's heads or by killing them, you need to answer Allah also"
"I could have taken 15 lakhs, said I want to work with PSL also, do my endorsements, walk (spreading arms around) with my collars up. No, it's not like that. My mother was on her death bed and I said I will do this, this, this, this and this. And that's why everyone says salam to me even today"
"PSL was a big product, but I wasn't in it initially. Now I've been there for the last 3 seasons and all I see is empty stadiums, boys are crying everyday. I think it was a product in the first seasons, since the past 3 seasons it's just time pass"
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