Yousuf determined to focus on the positives

NEW DELHI, Jan 10 (UNI): Severely panned by the critics for the shameful debacle at the Sydney Test, Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf is determined to focus on the positives which have emerged from the ongoing series against Australia.

Pakistan shockingly reliquished a strong position to lose the second Test by 36 runs.

The result enabled the Aussies to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-Test series and as expected, saw a number of former players call for the heads of Yousuf, coach Intikhab Alam, the selection committee and a number of other players.

Yousuf, however, wants the critics back home to go easy on the already deflated team.

"I think we can expect the criticism.

"I'm not saying don't criticise us but may be it should be more constructive and it should also highlight the positives that have come out from the Test series as a whole.

"I think the positives are that we know we can compete with any side in the world," Yousuf said.

The Pakistan players are still unable to come to terms with the traumatic debacle at Sydney but Yousuf is keen to ensure that the team continues to play good cricket during the third and final Test at Hobart which will now be a dead rubber.

"The team was very, very disappointed after Sydney," the senior batsman told 'Cricinfo.com'.

"But as I told them after the Melbourne loss, we have to see that we continue to play good cricket.

We could and should have won at Sydney but we didn't.

Few people thought that we could match Australia before we came on this tour, but we played very well here for three days and had one very poor day.

"We have to look at the positives as we get ready for Hobart.

Nobody can say whether we will win or lose but we just have to play good cricket for the entire duration.

We had our moments in the first Test, where we fought hard.

We did well for three days in Sydney," he added.

"We now need to learn from our mistakes because if we do then we can beat any side out there."