LAHORE: Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan has urged the young cricketers to build a strong character with the spirit of sacrification, commitment and planning if they want to be legendary players.

Addressing the national team and emerging batsmen in a video session on Thursday, Younis the top run–getter in Test cricket from Pakistan with aggregate 10,099 in 118 Test matches said many former cricketers had to represent the country in difficult conditions just for the team’s interest ignoring personal problems and that could only be possible with a great character.

Younis said pacemen like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis at times played with broken bones for Pakistan. He said cricketers should take problems as a challenge and solve them with the same spirit if they want to succeed at the highest level.

Younis, under whose captaincy Pakistan won the maiden T20 World Cup in 2009 in England, said consistency for batsmen is very important as it boosts the confidence. He said every batsman should stay firm on the crease while facing a difficult situation because once he is settled down he would be in a better position to pull out the team from the crisis.

Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq were the back-bone of the Pakistan batting line-up since 2010. Both retired from cricket one after another in 2017. Pakistan have been struggling with the batting problems ever since.Younis said former Pakistan captain Imran Khan’s commitment, dedication and passion for the game had made him one of the greats of the game, besides also giving him lots of success in the life culminating in him becoming the prime minister of the country.

Younis has got 34 centuries and 33 half-centuries in Test cricket under his belt at a healthy average of 52.05. He played 265 One-day Internationals scoring 7,249 runs while making 442 runs in 25 T20Is.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2020