A Pakistan test series is never complete without a post on Younis Khan. Younis has been an instrumental figure in test matches for Pakistan and with every series he stamps his authority and grows in stature as one of the best batsman to ever play the game.

Like Michael Clarke, everyone is caught surprised when they hear that Younis Khan has played only 92 tests in his 14 year career thus far. There are so many batsmen all around the world who began their careers well after Younis and have gone past a 100 tests; Clarke himself, Alastair Cook, and Kevin Pietersen to name a few.

I have always wondered where Younis would have been had Pakistan played as much test cricket as Australia, England or India. His figures in test cricket are comparable to those of the modern day greats, and just because Pakistan does not play as much test cricket, his runs tally is far behind.

However, that alone cannot take anything away from the phenomenal batsman that Younis Khan is. He stands far above his Pakistani compatriots, as well as, his international peers.

Prior to this test series against Australia in the UAE, Younis Khan was a distraught man. Having been dropped from the ODI squad (and rightly so), Younis spoke out against the PCB, declared himself unavailable from all cricket, and challenged the board to build a team without him.

That could have very easily ended his career. Thank God for some sane heads in the PCB, sense prevailed, Younis was cajoled and talked to, and the man decided that he will play.

Not only will he play, but he will play with the aim to become the first Pakistani to score a century against all other 9 test playing nations, to overtake Inzamam Ul Haq as the leading centurion for Pakistan, to overtake Javed Miandad as the leading run scorer in tests for Pakistan, and to become the first Pakistani batsman to reach the 10,000 run landmark in test cricket.

He made his aims public prior to the test series against Australia and how he has appeared as a man on a mission.

In the first innings of the series he achieved the feat of becoming the first Pakistani to score a century against all other 9 test playing nations, and in the second, he surpassed Inzamam Ul Haq's Pakistan record of 25 centuries.

Not only did Younis Khan achieve those two feats, he also became the first Pakistani to score two centuries in a test against Australia and the first batsman in the world to achieve the feat of twin centuries against Australia in the past 40 years!

I don't think I have the words that will do justice to Younis Khan's greatness, so I will just let his numbers speak for themselves.

1. Pakistan's Leading Test Centurion
In the past decade, since January 2005, Younis Khan has the third highest average in tests, behind only Kumar Sangakkara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

During this decade, Younis has performed better than the Sachins, Pontings, and Kallises of the world.

5. King of the 4th Innings
Younis Khan converts 48% of all his fifties into centuries in test cricket. That is a better conversion rate than the likes of Kallis (44%), Sachin (42%), Ponting (40%), Lara (41.5%), Dravid (36%), and many other batsmen who have scored at least 20 test centuries.

It goes without saying that he has the best conversion rates among all Pakistani batsmen to ever play the game. Only 4 batsmen have a better conversion rate than Younis Khan in test cricket.

7. One of the most Frequent Centurions
Sachin, Ponting, Kallis, Dravid, and Sangakkara are the leading 5 run scorers in the history of test cricket. All of them have played over 160 tests in their career, besides Sangakkara who has played 128.

Comparing Younis Khan to these 5 batsmen at the stage that Younis is right now, i.e. 92 test matches, shows that Younis has the third highest runs tally, a bit behind Rahul Dravid and well behind King Sanga.

It is quite impossible to see Younis play as many tests as Ponting, Dravid, and Kallis did, however one can only imagine where Younis would have ranked among the leading test run scorers if only Pakistan played as much test cricket as some of the other nations.

9. A Batting Giant away from Home

The hallmark of any great test batsman is how well he does in matches played away from home, in alien conditions that require adjustments and mental toughness.

Younis Khan has the most runs by a Pakistani batsman and the 4th most runs by any batsman in the history of the game in test matches played away from home.

Only Sachin, Dravid, and Kallis have scored more runs and more centuries in away test matches than Younis has.

10. The Best Number 3 Produced by Pakistan

Younis Khan is by far the best number 3 batsman ever produced by Pakistan. He is well ahead in terms of runs, average, and centuries.

11. A King Match Winner away from Home

Inzamam Ul Haq's prowess as a test match winner for Pakistan is well documented. No one has scored more runs (4,690) or more centuries (17) than Inzamam has in test wins for Pakistan. Younis Khan is second on that list for Pakistan with 3,347 runs and 12 centuries in test wins.

It will take Younis some time to surpass this record of Inzamam, however there is another Inzamam record that Younis surpassed in this massive test win over Australia. Younis Khan's twin centuries in the test match took him past Inzamam as Pakistan's leading run scorer in test match wins away from home.

Not only is Younis the leading run scorer for Pakistan in test wins away from home, he is now only behind the Aussie pair of Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting as the leading run scorer in test wins away from home in the history of the game. Both those run tallies are within Younis' sights and he could well end his career as the leading run scorer in test wins away from home.

Younis Khan's average of 86.3 in test wins away from home is the highest average in the world among all batsmen who have scored at least 2,000 runs in test wins away from home. And among all batsmen with at least 1,000 runs in test wins away from home, Younis' 86.3 is only behind Alastair Cook (99.7), Sir Don Bradman (96.8), and Wally Hammond (95.6).

Younis is also third on the list of batsmen with most 100s in test wins away from home. His 11 centuries, including the two in the just concluded match, is only behind Ponting's 12 and Waugh's 14.

As I said, words cannot do justice to the stature of Younis Khan.

He is not only the best test batsman produced by Pakistan, he is also one of their biggest match winners, and arguably the best test match batsman ever produced.

All hail KING KHAN!

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.

Hanif Mohammad scored 499 for Karachi against Bahawalpur in 1958; Brian Lara went past that record by scoring his unbeaten 501 for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994.

Lara's record still stands and probably will for decades to come.

Hanif Mohammad also holds the record for the highest score by a Pakistan batsman in test cricket - 337 vs West Indies also scored in 1958.

Coincidentally, Lara also scored his 375 and 501* in the same calendar year.

Many doubted that the rebel ICL will ever go through due to the bans on players from their boards, the launch of the IPL, and various other operational issues. However, against all odds, Kapil Dev (chairman of the ICL executive board) announced the composition of the 6 teams taking part in the 20-20 competition in ICL's 1st year.

Click here to see the complete composition of the Hyderabad Heroes, Kolkata Tigers, Mumbai Champs, Delhi Jets, Chennai Superstars, and Chandigarh Lions. The coaches of these teams are prominent former international cricketers. I would've thought Moin Khan and Micheal Bevan, two of the coaches, would have been good to play as well. Wonder why they're coaching.

The captains haven't been announced yet but Inzamam and Lara are expected to lead their teams - the Heroes and Champs respectively. The Pakistani fans should look forward to watching the Hyderabad Heroes in action as it not only includes Inzi, but also Abdul Razzak and Azhar Mahmood. Moreover, Moin Khan is coach of the team. Ambati Rayudu, the 22 year old touted to be India's latest batting prodigy, would love the prospect of batting along side Inzamam Ul Haq.

Let the ICL roll...