Younus Khan – Pakistan’s pride

Other than statistics, veteran batsman wants his fans to remember him as a legend who always batted for his country

KARACHI: Younus Khan chose his favourite sweep shot to bring up arguably the most cherished milestone of his illustrious career, 10, 000 Test runs (13^TH player to reach the mark). One can safely say that Younus’ landmark warmed the hearts of millions of Pakistanis who had long desired the presence of a batsman from their country in the elusive 10K Test runs club.

Some 25 years ago, Javed Miandad was the then third highest run-getter in Test cricket behind Sunil Gavaskar and Allan Border, there were genuine hopes that Karachi’s street fighter would go past the two men on his way to 10,000 Test runs but his career petered out via a painful and unceremonious exit, 1668 runs short of the 10K mark.

Since then Pakistani batsmen were left behind in the race for the top as the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, and Kumar Sangakkara etc piled on the runs all around the world.

Our modern batting greats Inzamamul Haq and Mohammad Yousuf played some historic innings of their own and made big runs but failed to make it to the 10K club.



Younus who spent most of his early years under Inzamam and Yousuf’s shadow took over the mantle of Pakistan’s batting doyen as the two stars faded away.

As Misbahul Haq took over captaincy following the spot-fixing disaster in 2010, Younus raised his hands as his most trusted lieutenant. Series after series, Younus made telling contributions in what can be dubbed the ‘Golden phase’ of his career, even outdoing performances like his Bangalore double (2005) or Karachi’s triple century (2009).

Younus’ century in Dubai in Misbah’s first Test as captain helped save the match against South Africa in 2010, the Dubai century in the third Test of the 2012 series against England ensured a whitewash win for Misbah’s men. The 2013 Cape Town century in Proteas own den was a testament of Younus’ calibre and dogged determination against a top-class bowling attack.

The 2013 double century against Zimbabwe in tricky conditions was another masterful knock which earned Pakistan a win. The 2015 Pallekele unbeaten century to seal a series win while chasing 377 in the fourth innings would go down as one of Younus’ greatest innings which was followed by another match winning century against England in Dubai the same year.



Mocked and ridiculed both by experts and connoisseurs of the game for his ‘jumping’ and hopping at the crease in the first three Tests of the 2016 England tour, Younus responded with a match winning 218 at the Oval, an innings which made the world notice the exploits of the Mardan born and his unmatched pedigree as Pakistan’s run machine.

The detractors were silenced once again as Younus conquered the final frontier (Australia) during his magnificent unbeaten 175 in the Sydney Test last January, unfortunately he found scant support from the other end or else we might have seen him pile another monstrous score.

Younus has called time to his career and the West Indian tour is set to be his last in Pakistan’s colours, one hopes he has at least one more three figures score left in him, at present his tally reads an astonishing 34 centuries and 33 half-centuries, a Pakistan record.

The batting legend has a world record five centuries in the fourth innings and his conversion rate from 90s to 100 is even better than Don Bradman (31 consecutive conversions). Younus is also the only batsman to score centuries in 11 countries (including the West Indies).



Other than the monumental statistics, Younus wants his fans to remember him as a legend of the game who always batted for his country and gave it his absolute all; he must be remembered as the Pride of Pakistan!

(The writer is Manager Media, Communication and Marketing of the Pakistan Cricket Board)