Younus brokered truce between Malik, Yousuf

Karachi:

They were not even on talking terms just a few months back with a history of bad blood between them but Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf put aside their personal differences to set up a morale boosting win against arch-rivals India on Saturday.

And the credit for bringing about a change in the attitude in the Pakistan dressing room goes to skipper Younus Khan, according to team sources.

Last year Yousuf after joining the unofficial Indian Cricket League had directly blamed Malik for insulting and mistreating him in his (Malik's )tenure as captain.

Yousuf had blamed Malik's shoddy treatment as the reason for his joining the ICL from which he resigned in June to make a comeback to the national team.

And even before joining the ICL it was no secret that Malik and Yousuf didn't get along well because of Malik's elevation to the captaincy after their 2007 World Cup debacle.

"They were not even on talking terms until recently. But Younus played a big role in removing the bad blood between the two senior players," one source in the Pakistan team said.

The source added that ever since replacing Malik as captain, Younus had been trying hard to gel the players even though he was aware that some of them were working against him behind his back.

Former skipper Rashid Latif also praised Younus for making a difference with his leadership.

"All credit to Younus. He has set clear goals for himself and his team and he is now doing his best to see the team achieves these goals," he said.