"We had dropped a place down in the batting order after analysing the problems we were facing in Australia. But after reviewing the scenario now, I have no hesitation in admitting that we should have batted up the order. In the coming matches, therefore, we will bat on our original positions," Inzamam was speaking from Sydney after arriving with the team for their second encounter against Australia which will be their first day/night match in this tournament.

"It's all about learning from your mistakes and moving on," he said.

Pakistan did lose a closely-fought match against the hosts by four wickets but in their next match, came back strongly to defeat the West Indies by six wickets.

Inzamam received some flak for batting lower down after he has batted at No. 4 for most of his career and for sending Youhana, who has been recently batting at No. 3 or 4, even further down the order to No. 6. Inzamam and Youhana, the two most senior batmen in the side were accused of not wanting to face bulk of the opposition's bowling.

While batting one-down Youhana has averaged 56.77 in 42 matches but when dropping down a slot his average drops to 38. Worse, when batting further down at No. 5 he only averages 35.81 in 69 innings.

Interestingly and conversely, Inzamam averages 40.66 at No. 4 in 141 innings and at No. 5 he moves up slightly to 41.20 in 74 ODIs.

However, Inzamam did insist the reason for dropping down was to try and hold the innings together in case the team suffers another top-order collapse. "Our thinking was that if we come in the middle of the innings, we would be able to hold the innings together in case of a collapse which we expected against a focused Australian bowling in tough Australian conditions.

"But I am glad that youngsters like Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik and now Kamran Akmal proved us wrong and showed the world they have the capacity, talent, potential and mettle to handle the pressure and perform."

Inzamam went on to argue the decision was also connected with the problems being faced by Malik and his suspect bowling action undergoing correction. “To have a sixth bowl option, we had to play Mohammad Hafeez who is also an opener. And when we decided to send Kamran as a pinch-hitter, naturally everyone had to sacrifice one position.

(Article: Copyright © 2005 Pakistan Cricket Board)