Pakistan sealed their second successive ODI series win after defeating Sri Lanka comprehensively by 8 wickets in the 4th ODI.

It was Sri Lanka's tormentor-in-chief, the one and only, Pakistan's professor Mohammad Hafeez who once again notched up an unbeaten century, his third of the series, to take Pakistan to a comfortable victory with over 8 overs to spare.

A Pakistan innings without Misbah walking out to the middle has been a rarity for a long time considering the number of times he has had to save Pakistan from a collapse. Last night, it happened for the second time in 4 ODIs thanks to the tremendous form that Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad have been in.

Hafeez' has had a rollicking year in ODIs during which he has knocked 5 centuries, more than what he managed in his previous 9 years of international cricket (ODIs only).

The Pakistanis have established many interesting feats during this series that they have dominated.

1. Misbah overtook Virat Kohli as the leading run scorer in ODIs this year. His tally of 1,322 runs is well ahead of Kohli and with 1 ODI to go against Sri Lanka he can gain a significant lead and end the year as highest run scorer in ODIs.

2. The only man who can overtake Misbah is his Vice Captain, Hafeez, whose third century in four ODIs has taken his tally for the year to 1,260 runs.

3. Hafeez became only the 6th batsman overall and 2nd Pakistani batsman to score 3 centuries in a bilateral ODI series. He has scores of 122, 140*, and 113* in this series.

4. Hafeez has hit 5 centuries in ODIs this year, which is the most ODI centuries hit in 2013. Shikhar Dhawan also has 5. Hafeez has 1 more innings left and is in with a chance to break several more records.

5. Ahmed Shehzad scored his 4th ODI century in the 2nd ODI of the series against Sri Lanka. At 22 years and 26 days, Shehzad became the youngest Pakistani batsman to hit 4 ODI centuries, beating Salman Butt's record of reaching the feat at the age of 23 years and 35 days.

6. Ahmed Shehzad also became the fastest Pakistani batsman to hit 4 ODI centuries when he got there in only his 37th ODI innings, beating Saeed Anwar's record who hit his 4th ODI century in his 38th innings.

7. Both Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez started this series with their career batting averages below 30. Now they average 33.39 and 30.95 respectively.

8. When Pakistan won the 3rd ODI of the series against Sri Lanka, it was their 78th ODI win at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. They equalled the record for most victories on a single ground, which is held by Australia with 78 wins at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Interestingly, both Pakistan and Australia have a W:L ratio of 2.10 at the respective cricket grounds.

Pakistan's record reads: P 116, W 78, L 37, T 1; While Australia's reads P 120, W 78, L 37, NR 5!

Let's wait for Friday and see what more Shehzad, Hafeez, and Pakistan can achieve.

In the summer of 2009, Pakistan unleashed a teenage left arm fast bowler on the international stage who took the world by storm. By the end of the summer of 2010, with his international career barely a year old, Pakistan's teen sensation had shocked the world with the disgrace he brought to his country.

Mohammad Amir's career stocks fell just as fast as they had risen.

It has been more than three years since Amir played for Pakistan, yet hardly a match goes by without the fans missing his presence in the Pakistan XI. Till date majority of the Pakistan fans miss him, would like to see him play for Pakistan again, and are eagerly anticipating his return in two years, if not sooner.

Amir has created such a euphoria with his spellbinding performances that his aura continues to remind fans of what could have been.

This euphoria is also the reason why the rise of another left arm fast bowler from Pakistan, who came on to the international scene about a year after Amir left it, has gone unnoticed.

Junaid Khan has now been playing for Pakistan for over two years, and he is by far the best fast bowler to play for them for a long time. He has been spearheading Pakistan's pace attack for a while now and some of the performances that he has given, especially in ODIs, deserve special praise.

Something that I feel he has not been given enough of.

Junaid Khan is an inspiration for up and coming young pacers. He is not only the best fast bowler in Pakistan, but arguably one of the best in the world currently.

Junaid's performance in the second ODI against Sri Lanka in Dubai left me awestruck. He bowled with intensity, with the firepower once associated with the two Ws, and single handedly brought Pakistan back into the game.

The performance also got me wondering just how good is Junaid Khan.

A comparison with Mohammad Amir shows that Junaid has been just as good, if not better, than the disgraced teen sensation, and yet he has not been applauded the same way that Amir was.


Junaid has definitely been superior in ODIs for Pakistan. One can only wonder how it would have been if these two left armers were currently spearheading Pakistan's attack.

A comparison with Pakistan's greatest fast bowlers, including the two Ws, Shoaib Akhtar, and Imran Khan, shows just how well Junaid Khan's career has progressed in ODIs.



Only Waqar Younis took more wickets than Junaid has in 39 ODIs; only 4 more wickets. And only Waqar Younis had a better strike rate than Junaid has after 39 ODIs; only 2 fewer deliveries required to pick up a wicket.

Junaid's relatively higher average and economy rate can be attributed to the playing conditions these days, which are far more conducive to high scores than in previous times.

Based on just this, Junaid is surely one of the best fast bowlers to emerge from Pakistan. He is only 23, and if he can sustain this form and fitness then he will have a long career, which will place him among the very best produced by Pakistan.

To put this into perspective at the global level, Junaid Khan's ODI bowling average of 22.93 is only bettered by Saeed Ajmal (22.87) and Ajantha Mendis (20.82) among the current ODI players with over 50 wickets.

There is no pacer in the world among the current players who has a better average than Junaid Khan.

Those players include Dale Steyn (25.49), Steven Finn (27.74), James Andersen (29.11), Lonwabo Tsotsobe (24.96), Morne Morkel (23.54), and Mitchell Johnson (25.37) - the fast bowlers part of the ICC rankings' Top 10 ODI bowlers.

Does this not make Junaid Khan one of the best fast bowlers in the world right now?

If you still need convincing, hear this...

Junaid Khan's strike rate of 27.6 in ODIs is the second best strike rate in ODIs ever (only Shaun Tait's 27.2 is better) for all bowlers who have taken a minimum of 50 ODI wickets.

While Amir might have taken the world of fast bowling by storm, it is Junaid who is slowly but surely making it his own!

Shahid Afridi did not bat like Shahid Afridi today.

Kevin Pietersen recently played the 100th test of his career. It took him 8 years and 4 months to reach the 100 test landmark, just a month short of the record held by Andrew Strauss, who reached the landmark in only 8 years and 3 months.

The current England captain, Alastair Cook, will play his 100th Test at Perth, which will be the third test of the ongoing Ashes series. Cook will surpass his former captains and become the only man in the world to reach the landmark in less than 8 years. It would have taken Cook 7 years and 9 months to play 100 tests.

Those figures suggest that these English players play 12-13 test matches in a year.

Michael Clarke will also play his 100th test at Perth, making it a unique scenario where both captains of the opposing teams would be playing their 100th test. Clarke will reach the landmark in 9 years and 2 months, implying that he's played approximately 11 tests a year.

Pietersen, Clarke, Cook are considered as the leading test batsmen of this era, along with the likes of Hashim Amla, AB De Villiers, and Kumar Sangakkara.

When I say this era, it is the one after the era of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, and Jacques Kallis, whose careers are over (or about to be in the case of Kallis).

I wonder though how much the English and Australian batsmen have benefited from playing a large amount of test cricket.

11-13 tests a year is a lot of test cricket.

Ricky Ponting played less than 10 tests a year during the course of his 17 year career. In comparison Sachin Tendulkar played only 8 tests a year. Brian Lara also played 8 tests a year, while Kallis plays an average of 9 per year.

The worst possible case however, is that of Younis Khan, who made his debut in 2000 - 13 years and 7 months ago - and has till date played only 86 tests, i.e. less than 7 tests a year.

That is due to a combination of the low number of tests that Pakistan plays, team politics, and Younis Khan's own erratic behaviour.

Whatever the reasons, one must wonder where Younis Khan would have been today had he played as much test cricket as Cook, Clarke, and Pietersen.


A comparison of all the above mentioned batsmen after 86 test matches, the amount that Younis has played till date, shows that only Lara and Sangakkara scored more runs; only Sachin, Ponting, Kallis, Sangakkara, and Clarke (marginally) averaged higher; only Sachin and Cook scored more centuries; and only Clarke and Lara have a higher personal score.

Can you imagine how many runs Younis would have scored had he played as much as Sachin, Ponting, and Kallis?

The three players have played double the amount of tests than Younis had. Sure they have had longer careers, but in Kallis' and Ponting's case, only 4-5 years longer. Even if Younis plays for another 4-5 years he would not get to 160 odd test matches.

Hell it would take him another 2 years to get to a 100 tests!

Younis Khan reached 7,000 test runs in 147 test innings. Faster than Pietersen, Clarke, and Cook got there; and only 1 innings later than Lara, and 2 later than Ponting.

The likes of Sachin, Sangakkara, Dravid, and even Sehwag and his country man Mohammad Yousuf got there significantly faster (7-10 innings lesser) but it tells you where Younis Khan stands.

Above the current batting greats, and at par with the all the modern day batting greats.

No Pakistani test batsman has scored 10,000 test runs.

The fastest batsmen to reach 10,000 test runs are Sachin, Lara, and Sangakkara, who got there in 195 test innings. Ponting took 196, Dravid 206, while the comparatively slower to that landmark include Steve Waugh who took 244 innings and Chanderpaul who took 239.

Javed Miandad, Pakistan's leading test scorer, did not even bat in 190 test innings in his career. Inzamam batted in 200.

There is no doubt that Pakistan's players suffer due to a lack of test cricket. Not only from creating records, but also from gaining more experience in the format. It is no secret that the more you play they better you become. How will our batsmen ever learn if they don't play enough?

Younis Khan is not the only batsman from Pakistan whose career can be tagged as "what might have been"; Mohammad Yousuf is also in a similar position.


Again it is a combination of Pakistan's test schedule, team politics, and Yousuf's own doing that he didn't play more or longer for Pakistan.

That record after 86 tests shows that Yousuf was well ahead of the pack of all batting greats. Only Sangakkara and Lara scored more runs in that many tests, and only Sachin scored more test centuries.

Yousuf's career ended after only 90 tests played over a period of 12 years and 6 months. That included a year of no test cricket for Pakistan, right after the year when Yousuf had surpassed Sir Viv Richards' record of the most test runs scored in a calendar year.

Pakistani batsmen are not the only ones who have been impacted by the low number of tests played by them; the bowlers have too.

Saeed Ajmal started his test career very late. He played his first test 4 years ago, a few months before his 32nd birthday. Since then he has played only 30 tests; only 7 tests a year.

He would have played another 20 in this time if he were from Australia or England.


Comparing Ajmal to other leading spinners in test cricket after 30 years shows that no other spinner even got close to the number of wickets Ajmal has taken; only Swann had a better strike rate; only Warne and Kumble had a better average; and no one picked up as many 10 wicket match hauls.

Can you imagine where Ajmal would have been had he played as much as Swann? Or where he would have ended if he played as many tests as Warne, Kumble, and Murali?

I can understand that some teams, including Pakistan, don't get their fair share of test cricket according to the FTP that is drawn up by the ICC every few years. They haven't played a 5 test series since 1992!

I also know that financial constraints make PCB schedule more ODIs on tours than test matches.

But are these reasons good enough to deny promising players from being considered as world's greatest?

They surely could have been.

It is a mixture of reasons why the likes of Ajmal, Younis, and Yousuf have not played as much test cricket as they ideally should have, but the foremost reason is the bad management controlling the PCB.

Till the board is sorted out and stronger leaders start to represent Pakistan on the global stage (for cricket and other things), players will continue to be impacted adversely.