Johannesburg, Oct. 4: Pakistan captain Younis Khan took the blame for his side’s five-wicket defeat against New Zealand in the second semifinal of the 2009 Champions Trophy at the Wanderers here on Saturday, saying the catch he had dropped off Grant Elliott (75 not out) had been the turning point for his side.

Younis dropped a sitter off Mohammed Aamer’s left-arm pace in the covers when the middle-order Kiwi batsman was on 42 and the total on 165/4 in the 40th over. "If it wasn’t this broken little finger, I would have caught the ball with fingers pointing down rather than upwards. I didn’t want to hurt my finger," he said.

"I played three matches before this with the injury," he said, when asked whether he would be blamed at home for the defeat. "But yes, if I had taken that catch, the result would have been different. Still, in sports, it happens and it was certainly not the first time."