Asif ready to welcome back Yousuf

Mohammad Asif has insisted that if Mohammad Yousuf is match-fit and ready to play Pakistan will have no problem including him for the second Test against England at Edgbaston.

Yousuf, who was granted a visa on Wednesday, is scheduled to reach Birmingham around midday tomorrow, just in time to join the Pakistan training session in the afternoon. His arrival, though, threatens to create a sense of unease around the squad following his axing by the PCB after the Australia tour at the beginning of the year. Yousuf, who was captain for that disastrous trip, was held responsible for infighting and spreading unrest in the team by a PCB inquiry committee, and consequently was banished for an indefinite period.

In response, Yousuf retired but last month said he would be available to play for Pakistan if they needed his services. "For me he is one of the legends of the game [in Pakistan]. If he can come in and [perform] and if he has agreed to play he can play straight away," Asif said,

Asif doesn't believe Yousuf's entry will have a negative impact on team spirit. "No, I don't think so." What Asif is more interested in knowing is how good Yousuf's fitness levels are and if he will be in the right frame of mind to walk straight into a Test match.

"We don't know whether he is in good form or not," he said. "I have not seen him but I have heard he has been practising hard in the at the national cricket academy in Lahore. When he arrives it depends on the selection committee and him."

That is the biggest question Pakistan's tour selection committee - comprising the captain, coach, and the manager - will need to answer before taking the crucial call on playing Yousuf. But one thing they can be certain about is Yousuf's outstanding record in England.

His average of 65.09 is his best overseas against top-ranked teams. He has a double century at Lord's to his credit and missed out on a second at Headingley by eight runs during Pakistan's last trip here. And even if most people would like to forget The Oval Test fiasco four years ago, Yousuf will have an abiding memory after he had notched 128 during Pakistan's only innings in the Test.

However, from England's point of view they aren't bothered who they come up against at Edgbaston. "It's probably a boost for Pakistan," Graeme Swann said. "We don't focus too much on what the opposition are doing but when a player of Yousuf's ability comes in you have to sit back and say 'How are we going to attack this player, how are we going to nullify that threat?'.

"He will be a threat, he's a world-class player, but the way we're bowling, especially Jimmy [Anderson] and [Steven] Finn up at Trent Bridge, we won't mind who we're bowling at."

While Asif knows an in-form and happy Yousuf would make a difference he still has faith in Pakistan's young batsmen. "We are not depending on him [Yousuf] actually. We still depend on the young side."

The key as far as Asif is concerned is for the youngsters to adapt their game to the longer format rather than playing as though it is Twenty20 cricket. "We need to focus on the Test matches and learn how to handle the pressure over five days," he said. "This cricket is quite difficult and we can win a Test match if we win it session by session. Twenty20 is just one session."

He added that his team-mates could learn a lot by the way Eoin Morgan and Paul Collingwood rebuilt England's first innings at Trent Bridge with their 219-run fifth-wicket stand after Asif and Mohammad Aamer had left them in trouble.

"The guy, left hander [Morgan], who made a hundred played excellently on the first day - he came in under pressure at 118 for 4 and he just left it [the ball], left it for an hour. Collingwood took his time too and our batsmen needed to take their time on that pitch and see off the good bowlers."