PAK vs SL, 21st Jun 2009



The Lord's: Pakistan captain Younus Khan announced his retirement from Twenty20 International cricket after leading his side to victory in the World Twenty20 Final at Lord's.
The 32-year-old waited until the end of his post-match press conference before dropping the bombshell, departing the scene without further elaboration.
Younus had earlier told the media throng of his delight in bringing some joy to a nation that has endured a difficult existence in recent times.
"Everybody knows, especially the players, that we needed a victory like that," said Younus. "Especially the World Cup, it's a big achievement for us and all credit goes to the boys and team management. I think it's a gift for the whole nation."
The right-handed batsman is hopeful his side's triumph - ultimately achieved through an eight-wicket victory against Sri Lanka on Sunday - will bring about a move to return international cricket to the country, a status that was revoked following the terrorist attack on Sri Lanka's cricketers in Lahore.
"Now we are champions - and everybody follows Twenty20 cricket these days - hopefully we will have some series or something like that," said Younus. "So I think that all of the countries must come to Pakistan. Everybody knows [the situation in Pakistan is] not good but it's not our [the players] fault. Youngsters, especially, need home series because if there is no cricket in Pakistan how can we motivate the youngsters, especially the school level and college level? So I think this will help to build us a new structure in Pakistan."
Pakistan's form going into the World Twenty20 had been poor - faring badly in the warm-up matches - and it hardly improved at the start of the tournament proper when they lost their first two games against established nations. Despite that, the outgoing skipper was always hopeful his side could prevail.
"Before the World Twenty20 I was chatting to the media and there were two or three teams [particularly] capable of reaching the last four - especially Pakistan and West Indies," said Younus. "And everybody thought I was mad. But I knew that Pakistan and West Indies had matchwinnners - especially in this form of the game - so I knew that if we reached our potential then we could reach the last four and then in the semis and final we would need our luck and the last two games we were lucky. That's why we won the World Cup."
And just a few minutes later Younus was gone - a happy, retiring, but never shy captain