Younis Khan - An era of dependence in Pakistan cricket

Younis Khan – An era of dependence in Pakistan cricket: Younis Khan, as the name goes depicts reliability. Indeed, he did frame and maintained the role of a wall for Pakistan for over a decade and the proceedings are still up and running. Through a series of ups and downs of the Pakistani line-up, the presence of Younis Khan instilled significant amount of stability to the Pakistan team.

Since his debut in Test cricket in February, 2000, Younis Khan slowly emerged to be one of the most reliable middle order batsmen of the modern day Test cricket. Despite not being able to make a prominent mark in his maiden Test against Sri Lanka where he made just 12 runs in his first Test innings. But the story did’t end there. He fought back just the manner for which he is known for the second innings and smashed his maiden century in the second innings of the Test. But unfortunately, he couldn’t save Pakistan’s cause in the match.

With age and experience, Younis just got better and better. After a lean patch in international cricket, many thought that Younis’ career would flicker away in 2014 but the veteran proved his class by hitting some magnificent tons against Australia. During which he also completed the 25^th century of his Test career, and with that he started to regain his momentum of scoring runs in 2014.

In fact, a batsman with 30 international centuries till date, Younis Khan even stands to be the best of the Pakistani batsmen when things are compared statistically. Previously, he stood as the second highest run scorer for Pakistan in Tests. Javed Miandad stood to be the leading run scorer for Pakistan with 8832 Test runs. Younis Khan, in the Test match against England, surpassed Miandad’s total when he hit Moeen Ali for a six. And from yesterday, quite deservingly, Younis stands to be the leading run scorer for Pakistan in the Test format.

Many have said that the batsmen from the sub-continent are good players of only flat tracks. But a batsman who can strike 3 consecutive centuries against one of the all time destructive bowling line-ups of Australia speaks for himself. Not only that, among the 30 centuries made by the veteran middle order batsman of Pakistan, 10 of them were 150+ scores. Also, he stands to be the second best batsman for Pakistan with 5 double tons. In fact, he was dismissed on a score of 199 and 194 in Tests. Had he been a bit lucky, statistics would have been further ecstatic on his part.

Younis also struck a brilliant triple ton against Sri Lanka in 2009. He remained unbeaten on 313 runs and this stands to be his highest score in Test cricket. Not only did he maintain a consistent batting performance, but he also improvised the youngsters of Pakistan to perform well and guided them to paths of success. In fact, while being in a partnership with him, his partners never feel the pressure since Younis Khan stands at the other end to absorb all of it. The name itself stands to be a gigantic pillar for Pakistan and has rescued them in quite a single handed fashion in a number of matches.

To sum up, Pakistan has been really gifted to have a player of his class and stature playing international cricket for over a decade and quite resourcefully he has been maintaining the scintillating form in international cricket for a good time now. Hope that he finishes his career on a high and is widely recognized for his achievements by fans back home.

Also Read: Team Wise leading run scorers in Test Cricket: