Prolific Younis deserves seat among batting greats: Wasim

KARACHI: Pakistan’s pace bowling legend Wasim Akram has lavished praise on veteran Younis Khan, saying the seasoned batsman deserves place amongst pantheon of greats in Test cricket.

Younis became the fifth Pakistan batsman and 62nd overall to play 100 Tests during the second match of the series against Sri Lanka last month.

The 37-year-old batsman, who holds a career Test average of 54.07, is the third most prolific batsmen for Pakistan behind Javed Miandad and Inzamam-ul-Haq and just needs 19 more runs to claim the top spot.

Reflecting on Younis’ achievements, 104-Test Wasim said: “Younis doesn’t get the recognition in world cricket that he deserves; the batsman is as good as any player in the world in Test cricket.”

Wasim added: “Younis truly deserves to be counted in the list of current great Test batsmen, featuring stalwarts such as A.B. de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Michael Clarke and Steve Smith.”

Hailing the batsman’s number of records, Wasim also described Younis as a true ambassador of Pakistan cricket and one of the all-time Pakistani cricketing greats.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2015

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Comments (14) Closed

syed wasim haider@hotmail.com

Jul 26, 2015 01:21pm

Younis Khan is really a great cricketer lie Rahul Dravid .Both were not given the respect they deserve.

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irshad

Jul 26, 2015 01:33pm

Younis Khan is definitely one of the best batsmen that Pakistan has ever produced but he lacks the consistency of a great batsman, which is the hallmark of the legends of the game. No point in scoring, say, 17, 26 and 120 and the come up with an average of 54. I would rather he scored 60, 40 and 60 to come up with the same average of 54. That would define reliability and dependability - the hallmarks of prolificacy and the logical step forward to greatness.

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Fasi23

Jul 26, 2015 01:34pm

Younis Khan records proves that he one of the all time great for Men in Green :)

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ABK Ind

Jul 26, 2015 02:12pm

@syed wasim haider@hotmail.com please do not compare him with rahul dravid. Rahul has scored runs all around the globe. Austraila England South Africa etc. Yonnis however was mainly successful only in slow & sluggish wickets.

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Blue Saffron

Jul 26, 2015 03:49pm

Why have we been sleeping on his achievements? PCB and the media should be proactively projecting Younis as a cricket hall of famer.

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Ahmed Awaiz

Jul 26, 2015 03:57pm

@ABK Ind : Indeed we should not compare him with Rahul Dravid as Younus' record stands out as a "match winner" while Dravid, no matter how good, was more of match saver or a man of impeccable defence. As for Dravid, I think he was way better than Tendulkar because Tendulkar always succumbed under pressure situation unlike Dravid or Laxman. And for your information, Younus has scored multiple centuries in all countries except Australia where he has best of 84 in three tests down under.

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ABK Ind

Jul 26, 2015 05:28pm

@Ahmed Awaiz pakistani friends always forget that indian batsmen never had the luxury of great bowlers to convert their great innings to a match winning innings which players like inzamam or younnis always had. Had players like sachin or dravid played for pakistan most of their knocks would have been match winning.

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ABK Ind

Jul 26, 2015 05:32pm

@Ahmed Awaiz secondly no individual player is a match winner it's a team game. That's y I said that the record speaks that rahul was a better player than younnis.

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PakCanuck

Jul 26, 2015 05:35pm

There is a misconception that Younis has not scored runs in Australia, England etc. He has an average of 43 in Australia and 52 in England. Australia is the only country where he has not scored a century yet (His highest is 87 in only 3 matches that he has played there). His average at Home is 59 and it is 52 in the Away game. So hardly a one trick pony Absolutely agree, Younis is not getting the recognition he deserves

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Asif

Jul 26, 2015 05:38pm

@ABK Ind Younis also scored runs around the globe. He also scored centuries in South Africa. Most of the so called Indian greats have also swelled their averages playing on slow and dead wickets.

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jkhan

Jul 26, 2015 07:08pm

Totally agree

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obaid

Jul 26, 2015 07:55pm

What qualifies Kohli as a current test great?

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Flip flop

Jul 26, 2015 10:03pm

OK so he is not playing in T20 and ODi. Rd did play in limited overs. Just call him great and ask him to play just tests. Only country that can handover such a fate to t20 wc winning captain

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Tahir A

Jul 26, 2015 10:13pm

@irshad Hi, as regards to your analysis about inconsistencies, I think you are mistaking him with Afridi whose hot and cold performance was loved by all without flinching. Younis is the best thing that happened to Pakistan including Inzi.

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