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I'm willing to learn from my mistakes: Yousuf

January 19, 2010 16:51 IST

In the line of fire after Pakistan's humiliating Test series loss in Australia, skipper Mohammad Yousuf on Tuesday defended himself, insisting that the team has not done too badly under him and he needs more time to settle the side.

Pakistan were whitewashed 3-0 in the recently-concluded Test series but Yousuf insisted that the team's performance was not all that bad.

"I have done okay I think, we drew the Test series in New Zealand and have troubled Australia," Yousuf said.

The 35-year-old said despite the humiliating loss to Australia, he remains hopeful of retaining captaincy for the tour of England this year.

"I am enjoying the job and I would like to keep doing it. Trying to do it sincerely and lift the boys and myself," he said.

"I am a new captain and captains are not born. It takes time for them to learn. I am willing to learn and take help from anyone. They say I made mistakes; I probably did, for sure. But tell me what to do and then if I don't learn or don't listen, then they criticise me, I am ready I will speak to anyone about it," he added.

Yousuf also defended his team's performance in Australia.

"We have couple of inexperienced players and they are learning. And our batting has never been our strong point. And what happened to past Pakistan teams in Australia?" he stated.

Yousuf admitted captaincy may have affected his batting form in the series.

"Maybe captaincy is affecting my batting. There is a lot of pressure on me to speak to batsmen and bowlers. But somebody has to do the captaincy. I have just started it, have done it in only six Tests and everybody must consider the circumstances," he said.

Yousuf was given the captaincy after Younus Khan withdrew from the Test tour to New Zealand last November following the team's One-day series loss to the Kiwis under his captaincy in Abu Dhabi.

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