IPL franchises should have spent more Pak players: Younis

Pakistan batting mainstay Younis Khan feels the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises have made a big mistake by not spending more on Pakistani players.
Younis said he was surprised that not many Pakistani players were snapped up by the IPL franchises in the bidding held in Mumbai last month.
The teams brought only seven Pakistani players including Younis with flamboyant allrounder, Shahid Afridi fetching the highest bid price of USD 675,000.
Prolific batsman Misbah-ul-Haq was later brought by Shahrukh Khan’s Kolkata team for USD 180,000.
Younis said the teams should have depended more on Indian and Pakistani players specially since they are more well versed in playing the Twenty20 version of the game.
“I just think it’s all a big mistake. You look at the performances of the Indian and Pakistani players in the T20 World Cup. Our players should have been brought for more money and in bigger numbers,” he said.
Younis said he was confident that next year the franchises would realise their mistake and Pakistani players would be in more demand.
On the captaincy issue, Younis said he was firm and right in not accepting the leadership of the Pakistan team.
“I took this decision because I am more happy playing as a ordinary member of the team. I just think that I am a bit aggressive and given the different influences in the team at times my nature would have created problems,” he said.
“I did the right thing in not accepting the Pakistan captaincy because it will help me prolong my career. I remain pro-active on the field even as a ordinary player and give my advice where necessary and when asked for,” he added.
On the upcoming home series against Australian which is in doubt due to the world champions’ security concerns, Younis said tour didn’t go ahead as per schedule in March-April.
“Even we as players like to compete against the best and do well. And even our people want to see the best players in action in their own grounds. I think they would love to see Ricky Pointing in action in Pakistan,” he said.
SOURCE : HINDUSTANTIMES