All strategies failed against Younus: Dhoni

Karachi, July 3 (PTI) Indian skipper M.S. Dhoni said his
bowlers were helpless against a rampaging Younus Khan, who
steered Pakistan to a comprehensive eight-wicket win against
India and kept alive his side's hopes of making the final of
the Asia Cup against Sri Lanka.

Younus struck an unbeaten century, on Wednesday, to help
Pakistan overhaul India's competitive total of 308.

"I think Younus Khan played a brilliant innings. The
bowlers tried everything against him but he was always ahead
of them. He didn't take pressure at all," Dhoni told reporters
after the match.

Now India must beat Sri Lanka on Thursday in their last
Super Stage match to secure a place in the final, to be played
on Sunday.

The Indian skipper said the pitch was a belter and even
308 runs were not enough to defend.

"It was a very good batting track and frankly speaking we
tried everything. Nothing worked. When I and Rohit were
batting we were under pressure because of the quick loss of
wickets. On such tracks taking wickets is the key to victory.

"We will go in there and give it our best. But on these
pitches you need experienced and quality spinners to tie
things up."

He also rejected suggestions that his players had not
recovered from fatigue.

"Well, we will now sit down and find out where we went
wrong. But it is not everyday you play back to back games and
we are professional cricketers and we have to manage this," he
said.

Pakistan's stand in skipper, Misbah-ul-Haq showered praise
on his bowlers for restricting India to a gettable score.

"Once we restricted them to 308 we were always confident
we could win this match. I told the bowlers to bowl
aggressively even if you give away runs. I think our bowlers
bowled fantastically well on this flat pitch and their wickets
gave us the advantage," he said.

Misbah also said that he was happy to play a crucial role
in win along with Younus.

"But I think Younus played an outstanding knock and he is
a controlled player. And when he plays like this we usually
end up winning games."

Misbah said regardless of the outcome of the India and Sri
Lanka game, Pakistan would go all out to beat Bangladesh
comprehensively.

"The result of the India and Lanka game is not in our
hands so we just have to think about our match rest is to
fate."