The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Yusuf thrilled with his show

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Yusuf thrilled with his show

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: K.R. Deepak

CLUELESS! Kevin Pietersen’s defence is breached by a Yuvraj Singh delivery.

Indore: Yusuf Pathan, busy emerging from the shadow of younger brother Irfan, was elated with his maiden fifty in ODIs. "It will give me a lot of confidence. I am willing to bat in which ever slot my team offers me.

“It was not an easy pitch to bat on today but we knew that once we score well it would be difficult for England. Yuvi played another match-winning knock and with Gautam Gambhir too doing well, it helped me settle down," Yusuf said here on Monday.

Yusuf attributed India’s winning spree in the current series to players fulfilling their assigned roles. "Batsmen have done well, especially our openers and Yuvraj Singh and the bowlers have also done their part well," Yusuf said.

The Baroda all-rounder also said that it was wrong to describe him as just a Twenty20 specialist.

"In first class cricket we play a lot of three and four day games and it was only in the Indian Premier League that I got exposed to twenty20. I can play all formats and I am equally focussed on my bowling," Yusuf said.

Realistic assessment

Meanwhile England captain Kevin Pietersen said that his team did display a competitive streak until Yuvraj stepped in and spoilt the party.

"We had them at three down but Yuvraj took the game away from us. We let them get too many runs but we will stay competitive. We did have a good run against the South Africans back home but the conditions there aid swing and seam and we are not that stupid not to realise that Indian conditions are different," Pietersen said.

Losing momentum

Pietersen said that England lost its momentum in the middle overs.

"We lost momentum between the 15th and 30th overs when their spinners bowled and that’s why Flintoff and I decided to go in for the power-play in the 33rd over and we did well, scoring 59 runs but then we got out. If we had stayed, we would have been competitive," Pietersen said.

The England captain also declined to comment on the probable delay of one day in the commencement of the first Test at Ahmedabad next month.

"I just got to know that discussions are on but I am in no position to make a comment on that. It is beyond me," he said. The Test is originally scheduled to commence on December 11”.

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