Published: Oct 14, 2015, 06:45 AM (IST)
Edited: Oct 15, 2015, 03:21 PM (IST)
You would probably have been scoffed at if you included Younis Khan in the league of Pakistan legends. You may still be scoffed at, but at least you have data to back yourself — for Younis has transcended the boundaries separating the good from the great and the great from legends.
A decade back he was “the man who bats in the middle-order with Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf”. By the time Inzamam missed out on being Pakistan’s leading run-scorer by a mere three runs in his last innings eight years back, Younis had scored 4,556 Test runs. He averaged 48.98, a shade behind Inzamam’s 49.60. He was a mere 30. And yet, nobody predicted that he would scale heights no Pakistan batsman has.
Ask fans of Pakistan cricket for an all-time XI, and they will, in all probability, give you a middle-order consisting of Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, and Inzamam. Some may even include Yousuf ahead of Zaheer, but never Younis — for Younis has, for years now, been the invisible man of Pakistan cricket.
When they make memes it is about Misbah-ul-Haq’s pace of scoring runs or Shahid Afridi’s longevity at the wicket or Ahmed Shehzad’s adventures with the camera. They do not mock Younis, for he is not exciting enough to be made fun of.
When they use the hashtag #respect it is about Hashim Amla or Virat Kohli or Dale Steyn or Steven Smith. They do not go gaga over Younis, for he is not as glamorous: indeed, how many Younis videos have you seen for every AB de Villiers video — despite the fact that Younis averages more than AB at a near-identical strike rate?
As for the numbers, they boggle the mind. Younis has 30 hundreds to go with 29 fifties, which speaks volumes of his insatiable appetite for runs. Of those with 30 hundreds, only Matthew Hayden matches his conversion rate (of course, Don Bradman’s 29 hundreds and 12 fifties are on another planet).
He averages 53.97 — despite playing a mere 19 Tests at home. He averages 40 or more against every country barring South Africa (39.60) and West Indies (38.94), which tells a thing or two about his versatility and adaptability.
In fourth innings he averages 60.59. In successful chases he has a whopping 141.67. Three months back he scored 171 at Pallekele to help chase down 377. In 2007 he scored 126, 130, and 107* in three consecutive fourth innings in the span of two months. READ: Younis Khan becomes Pakistan’s leading run-scorer in Test cricket
It must be remembered that Pakistan had suffered from the lack of a stable opening pair for most of Younis’ career. This often meant he had to emerge at No. 3 to shield the ‘more valuable’ pair of Yousuf and Inzamam. At that position he scored 4,055 runs at 51.32.
One would expect a batsman with close to 9,000 Test runs to specialise at a specific position. Not Younis. At No. 4, he has another 3,980 at 59.59 — more than the corresponding numbers for Sachin Tendulkar, Greg Chappell, Brian Lara, Denis Compton, Martin Crowe, and countrymen Miandad and Inzamam. Another 20 runs will make him the only batsman to score 4,000 runs at both Nos. 3 and 4. He will achieve that with averages in excess of 50 in both positions. Only Steve Waugh and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (both at Nos. 5 and 6) have been shuffled around with such frequency.
But then, as most fans will point out, numbers mean scant little to the sport — for cricket is about ‘art’ and ‘flamboyance’ and mysterious terms like ‘x-factor’ — for numbers seldom appeal to us, loyalists.
History, fortunately, will honour him — for unlike opinions, numbers do not lie, and neither are they biased. With time, history will acknowledge his greatness. His time, if it has not come already, will come. Time will recognise his genius, his stature, his contribution to Pakistan cricket when they have been torn apart by spot-fixing and deprivation of cricket at home.
He will still keep saying “I am just an ordinary cricketer” — words the annals of the sport will strongly differ with, for there is nothing ordinary about him barring his unassuming demeanour.
Younis will not get viral on YouTube for chasing spectators with cricket bats or imitating rival wicketkeepers on the ground.
Younis will not be referred to as The Asian Bradman or bash West Indies at home to finish as the leading scorer of the year.
But Younis will be referred to as the man who finished at the top of Pakistan batsmen in runs, average, and hundreds, and as the man who lifted his country in an era when nothing seem to go right for them.
With 8,852 Test runs, Younis Khan is a legend. And his stature will only grow with time.
(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor at CricketCountry and CricLife. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)
