KARACHI: Pakistan captain Younis Khan is considering to retire from the shortest format of the game after leading his side in next month's World Twenty20 Champions in England in a bid to focus on Tests and One-Day Internationals.
At 31, Younis suspects that the 'slam-bang' format of the game is not his cup of tea but will wait and see how he fares in the June 5-21 spectacle in England before taking a final decision over his Twenty20 career.
Younis missed Pakistan's Twenty20 International against Australia in Dubai on Thursday night and his absence ignited rumors that the skipper might step down from captaincy for the England assignment.
There were even rumors that Younis might relinquish captaincy in favor of senior all-rounder Shahid Afridi, regarded as the perfect man for the hit-and-run version of cricket.
But Younis, who flew out of Dubai to the United States to attend a series of charity events there, made it clear that he has no such plans, adding that he was forced to sit out of the game against Australia because of fever.
"I was unwell and thought it would better not play last night," he said adding that he was surprised how untrue rumors spread like wildfire.
Younis said that he is unlikely to play in any more editions of the World Twenty20 Championships after the event in England as he wants to stay focused on Tests and ODIs.
"There is a big possibility that I will not play in any more Twenty20 World Cup after the next month's tournament. I might even decide to quit playing Twenty20 cricket after that."
The captain has played 15 Twenty20 Internationals, scoring 260 runs at an average of 18.57 with the best score of 51 — his only fifty. His T20 record is below average when compared with his stats in Tests and ODIs. He has scored 5129 runs from 60 Tests, at a healthy average of 51.80 with 16 hundreds. Younis has also scored 5379 runs from 186 one-day appearances.
The fact that he doesn't like playing Twenty20 cricket much was evident from his below-par showing for Rajasthan Royals in the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) last summer.
Younis failed to impress in that event and was discarded from the playing XI by the team's skipper — Shane Warne — for the semifinals and the final. Royal defeated Chennai Super Kings in the final to win the title.
The Karachi-based Younis took over as Pakistan captain this January after his predecessor Shoaib Malik was forced to step down following a humiliating 234-run defeat in the ODI series final against Sri Lanka in Lahore.
Just fours months into his first tenure as regular captain, Younis is already facing bitter criticism from various quarters over his team's 2-3 series defeat against Australia in UAE.
His individual showing in the series was disappointing as he just managed to score 73 runs in the five-match series at an average of 14.60 with a highest score of 28.
But Younis is confident of regaining his golden form soon and is expecting his team to click in the World Twenty20 Championship.Pakistan lost to India in the final of the inaugural event in South Africa and are now regarded among the favourites for the title this summer. They share Group B with England and minnows Netherlands and will open their title campaign with their opening match on June 7 against the hosts at The Oval.
