There were plenty of harsh questions for Pakistan’s captain after the Sydney loss
Osman Samiuddin in Sydney07-Jan-2010Mohammad Yousuf came to the press conference alone. Usually he has beenaccompanied by the team manager but something about such defeats is a verysolitary endeavour. He answered his questions with as much dignity as youcan muster in these situations. All the while his eyes looked likenothing, not thinking, not smiling, not working where they usually are themost interesting thing after his beard to look at. After the questions hadbeen asked, a real inquisition began.Four journalists from Pakistan took Yousuf aside as had been the practiceafter most days to get not only the inside dope, but some coherence. MostPakistan players are more comfortable and articulate in their own languageand their answers in Urdu have much more than in English. Usually his eyeshave a working mischief to them but he looked as shattered as a naturallyunexpressive man can.He sat slumped on a bench to the side of the press conference area, twojournalists sitting either side of him and two standing up in front ofhim; it felt fully and distastefully like an interrogation.Was this the we have ever played, no loosener, good shortball first up. “I am not saying we played well,” Yousuf fended it nicelyto square leg. “We played very poorly, very poorly. First of all my shot,I will say it was horrible. But what else can I say. We played reallybadly, they played well. You can write whatever you want on how badly weplayed.”People will write it too. Some more venting was required. Things had to betaken off the chest and scapegoats had to be found. There were quite afew. Harsh questions were asked, but I always thought such situationswould be more heated, tenser. Words would be exchanged, some shouting andpointing of fingers. But questions came wrapped in sweet, inoffensivetones, even soothing. We could have been at a funeral where nobody died.’Why do we do it?’ asked one, a simple and impossible question. “It wasn’ta difficult chase,” Yousuf began. “We should’ve done it easily. We can’ttake pressure. Many of the side are young. If some players have beenplaying for 8-10 years…” Another interrupted him, to point out that theyoung had been playing well. ‘It’s the seniors who aren’t performing.Misbah, Kamran and you are three seniors.’ Solid cut.”Yah…mine was a really poor shot,” Yousuf said again.’And what about Danish? Compare him to Hauritz – Danish gave 150 runs,Hauritz only 50.'”Danish gave a huge effort,” Yousuf continued his defense. “He bowled 50overs. Danish had to take wickets. We gave Hauritz wickets.”Someone interrupted the lynching to ask about the moment Pakistan reallylost this Test, in the field in the morning, when Pakistan went atAustralia like a goldfish encircling a shark. Yousuf didn’t think much ofthat period, just that Pakistan had to be defensive against MichaelHussey. “We had to stay defensive with Hussey. Siddle ended up playingwell, scoring 40 runs. We didn’t realize he could.” Not recognizing theflaw of his plans revealed more than the answer itself.Most venom and time was reserved for the wicketkeeper. Kamran Akmal is asweet man. That doesn’t help in holding onto catches or scoring runs andhe hasn’t done either here. Questioners then became solution-providers, anuncomfortable crossing of a sacred line.’Misbah also…he is old now, reflexes are slow. Body language is alsopoor,’ started one journalist.”You are right, no doubt about that,” replied Yousuf, though not reallyand leaving it, teasingly, at that.One told Yousuf that by his thinking nobody will ever get replaced in theside. Before he could answer another asked why Shahid Afridi and RanaNaved-ul-Hasan can’t play in this side, given how long the tail is. Forthe first time, Yousuf revved up. “Afridi says sometimes he wants to play,sometimes he doesn’t want to play. What can a guy do? You tell me, whatcan I do?”It was only left to wrap up and look ahead to pointlessness. Here was themaking of a summer and it was now undone. Not that he had been agitatedbut some of Yousuf’s calm filtered back into him. “We have lost butcricket hasn’t stopped, or come to an end. When it does end, we will stop.We will try to play well in the next Test and try to win it. We have seenwe can win if we bat well.”A couple of the journalists rubbed it in a little. ‘We haven’t smiled fortwo hours. Only now once you are here we smiled.'”What can I say?” Yousuf asked, before saying it. “If I fall now, everyoneelse will fall too. What I am feeling inside right now, what can I tellyou? What can I do? If I fall those guys inside will fall. They need tothink themselves too and accept. I made a mistake, I accept it. I will trynot to do it again. There is no doubt if I had stuck around for a while,put on another 15-30 runs we could’ve been okay. But I took a chance and Igot to the ball but the ball came too low at the bottom. Okay wrong shot buthe held on to it. Since yesterday things were working against us…”The first innings, that was it. If we had taken a 300 lead…” he trailedoff as Ricky Ponting walked past, looking not enough like the man who hadbeen pardoned just as the noose was going around his head.
