Younus: now it's serious!

Much was made of Pakistan captain Younus Khan's post-match comments after his side's opening ICC World Twenty20 defeat against England, when he said Twenty20 cricket was 'a bit of fun'.

But whatever he was saying to the media, his working methods behind closed doors have taken Pakistan to the brink of winning the competition.

If his apparently laidback approach was designed to take the pressure of his team-mates, it has clearly worked as they, along with their final opponent, Sri Lanka, are the two form nations going into their Lord's showdown.

In fact, Sri Lanka have never been out-of-form, having won all six matches in the tournament so far. Meanwhile, Pakistan have blown away New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa since losing two of their first three games.

Speaking ahead of the final, Younus set out to clarify exactly what he had intended by his quotes after their 48-run loss to England, when he had appeared to play down the importance of 20-over cricket.

"Maybe my English is not very good so a lot of people took it wrongly," said Younus. "You will see no South Africa in the final, no Australia in the Super Eights, so for me [when I am] at the ground it is very hard cricket - there is no recovery time in this kind of cricket - but it is good entertainment and nobody knows what will happen in it next.

At the ground I take it seriously. In my whole career I take my cricket very seriously. I f you see, there are no controversies in my life. Everybody loves Twenty20 cricket so now I take it seriously [laughs]!"

The Pakistan captain believes the potent spin duos in either side will be crucial to the outcome of tomorrow's match. Although he concedes the whole Srl Lankan line-up should be respected, it is the match-up between Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralidaran and his own Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal that could decide the winners.

"They have a very balanced team - especially their spinners - and they have good all-rounders and an in-form batsman like (Tillakaratne) Dilshan. Everybody knows about him so if his bat is talking he will be smashing every bowler. Then they have a couple of seniors in the middle [Kumar Sanagakkara and Mahela Jayawardena]. [But] if you have good spinners - same like we have at the moment - that's why we are reaching the final because nobody thought the spinners would be doing any damage in a country like England. But I think if you have good spinners they can make the difference to either side." Victory for Pakistan would complete a major turnaround in the national cricket team's fortunes as they have spent much of the last 18 months in isolation. Sri Lanka's recent tour to the country ended in a terrorist attack on the touring side's bus - an incident that put a complete stop to visiting teams entering the country for the time being.

Younus acknowledges a win in the ICC World Twenty20 will help to lift some of the gloom currently pervading his nation.

"If we win tomorrow it will be good for our future cricket (and) for the Pakistan nation as well, said Younus "because we've been suffering from a lot of things - especially in the north (of Pakistan). I'm from the north, from Mardan, and there a lot of things wrong in Mardan so I think it will help us in the future - especially for the future of the Pakistan cricket team."

Although he has not been able to lead his side on the field too often since taking up the captaincy - for the second time - in 2009, the 31-year-old certainly seems to have galvanised a side that has frequently failed to amount to the sum of its parts.

Imran Khan is the only Pakistan captain to raise a major one-day trophy so the current incumbent is keen to carve his own place in his country's folklore come Sunday.

"I've been dreaming about lifting the World Cup or something like that," Younus admitted. "This will be a big achievement for me - we have only won one (50-over) World Cup in 1992 with Imran Khan so, Inshallah, if we win tomorrow it will be very good for me and the team."