The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : India hard to beat: Younis

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Friday, Jul 02, 2004

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India hard to beat: Younis

HYDERABAD, JULY 1. Former Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younus feels that the present Indian team is very strong and its depth in batting makes it difficult to beat.

Younis was speaking at a press conference called by ESPN-Star Sports here on Thursday to announce its new plans.

In a bid to attract more viewers, particularly those who are not fluent in English, it has decided to provide Hindi commentary also, in its coverage of the Indian Oil sponsored Asia Cup cricket championship which is to be held in Sri Lanka from July 16 to August 2.

Younis will be in a team which will provide Hindi commentary on the Star Sports channel.

However, at the same time ESPN will continue to show the same matches with English commentary.

"India is a strong team and has a good batting line-up so it is difficult to beat," he said. When asked whom he rated as the best batsman in India, Younis said that while most of top order Indian batsmen are very good, he would single out Rahul Dravid as having an edge over others.

"Dravid's excellent defence makes him a very difficult batsman to dismiss," Younis stated.

Younis said that he was looking forward to his new role.

"I am happy to be part of the ESPN-Star Sports commentary team.

"Most of my fellow commentators are former players and I have played with or against most of them. We always had a healthy rivalry on the field. It will be nice to work with them once again," he said.

About the Pakistan side he said that there were a lot of talented young players who were beginning to come up and the coach Bob Woolmer should be able to mould them into a good team he felt.

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