No religious coercion in pakistani team

No religious coercion in Pakistan team: Younis

Mohali: Pakistan captain Younis Khan Tuesday said religion is not an issue within the team.

Asked about the recent directive in which the Pakistan Cricket Board asked regular captain Inzaman-ul-Haq to ensure that no team member was forced to offer prayers if he did not want to, Younis Khan steered clear of the issue saying, "We are all Muslims in the team. Where is the question of forcing anyone to follow a religious practice?"

Younis told reporters that all players are free to practice religious beliefs as they liked and nothing was being forced on them.

The stand-in Pakistan captain himself was at the centre of a captaincy row after he refused to take up captaincy of the team temporarily in the absence of Inzamam who is serving an International Cricket Council (ICC) ban for four matches following the Oval Test controversy.

Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer Tuesday tried to brush aside the captaincy row saying that both Inzamam and Younis had a good relationship as captain and vice-captain of the team in the last two years.

"Younis has done well but would not be right to compare captains," said Woolmer.

Younis hoped his side would get local support in the two matches against New Zealand (Oct 25) and South Africa (Oct 27) despite not many Pakistan fans coming to watch the matches.

"We have a lot of Muslim population in India and have always been treated well. We have always enjoyed being here and hope to get good support this time too," he said.