Pakistan captain Younus Khan has admitted that despite not being fully fit, he decided to play in the Champions Trophy semifinal.

"It was difficult for me. I was in some pain. I had told the team management that I was not fully fit because of the injury. But because of the importance of the tournament, I decided to play as I didn't want to miss the trophy," Younus said during a programme on Geo Channel.

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Pakistan was defeated by New Zealand in the semifinal on Saturday night with Younus dropping a crucial catch to give a life to top-scorer Grant Elliott in New Zealand's run chase.

Younus picked up a hairline fracture in his right hand little finger while playing a warm-up match against Sri Lanka before the tournament. He played in the eight-nation event with the fracture, although some former cricketers questioned his decision to ignore the injury.

Even India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, before the game against Pakistan had noted that it was risky for anyone to play with a fracture.

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Younus said he had spoken to the team management about his injury and whether it would be right for him to continue playing.

"The semifinal was very important for us and I just had to play. But obviously now people are going to debate on this," Younus said.

"When I ran out Gautam Gambhir in the game against India everyone praised me. But when dropped one catch it has become a talking point now. It was a vital miss, I know, but don't think it changed the course of the match," he added.

"It (semifinal defeat) is terribly disappointing, but overall I am satisfied with the performance of our team. It is true our batting struggled throughout the tournament except for against India but we need to move forward and learn from our mistakes," Younus added.

"We didn't get a big partnership"

On Pakistan's batting in the Saturday's match, Younus said, "We didn't get a big partnership going like we did against India."

However, Younus refused to accept umpiring had any role to play in the defeat.

"Simon Taufel's decision against Umar Akmal was just good luck for New Zealand. It can happen to any team. But on our side we missed crucial run-outs and I thought Elliott played very well. It was just not our day.

"We need backing and not a situation where everyone in the team is thinking what is going to happen next with us. I am ready to face the people as I am not the one to run away from criticism," he said.

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