In two days time, Younis Khan and Misbah Ul Haq will take the field for the very last time for Pakistan. Many feel they are leaving too soon, while many think that they have timed it perfectly.

No one really knows when the best time is to hang up their boots, but one thing I am sure of...

Both Younis Khan and Misbah Ul Haq are still at the top of their game, still the best test batsmen Pakistan have, and still have some years left in them.

In my opinion, the best 5 batsmen to play test cricket for Pakistan are:

All five of them are Pakistani stalwarts; however some of them overstayed their welcome.

If you take a look at the last three years of their careers, it is apparent that Javed Miandad and Mohammad Yousuf had lost their touch.

Younis in fact has averaged more than his career average in his last three years; while Misbah has been quite consistent. Inzamam also performed in line with his career performance in his final few years.

Miandad and Yousuf though were below par.

Probably best for Younis and Misbah to call it time while they are still at the top of their game.

I found this quite interesting so I took a look at the final three years of the leading 5 run scorers of all time in test cricket. This is what I found:

While Kallis, Dravid, and Sangakkara were still at their peak; Sachin and Ponting went through a significant dip in form in their final few years.

Like Younis, Sangakkara too averaged more than his career average in his last three years.

It is also interesting to note that Younis, Ponting, and Kallis scored double centuries in their last three years; while Sangakkara managed a triple century!

Even more interesting is the fact that Kallis and Sangakkara managed their career highest score in their final three years.

So much for legends overstaying their welcome; besides a few all of them retired with grace and while they were at the top of their games.

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.

Today, on December 3rd 2012, Ricky Ponting played his final international innings. As his innings ended, so did the career of a true legend and arguably the best batsman this generation has seen.

If not the best ever, I personally think he was the best batsman to play the game during the past 15 years.

Ponting retires as the second highest run scorer ever in the history of both test matches and ODIs.

He retires as a 3 time World Cup winner; twice as captain.

He retires with 30 ODI centuries and 41 test centuries, the second and third highest number of tons ever respectively.

He retires with an ODI average of 42, the third highest ever for all batsmen to have played over 300 innings.

He retires having captained Australia in 77 test matches, winning 48 of them - a win % of 62, the second highest win % for players that have captained in at least 25 tests.

He retires with the most number of ODI caps as a captain having led Australia in 230 ODIs, winning 165 of them - a win % of 76, the second highest win % ever for anyone with more than 30 ODI caps as captain.

The only reason why his batting records are second or third on a list is because of the presence of two other legends with whom Ponting's career coincided - Sachin Tendulkar & Jacques Kallis.

His captaincy records are second only to the man he succeeded - Steve Waugh (tests), and the man who led the best cricketing team ever (ODIs) - Clive Lloyd.

The overall statistics will show that he was the second best batsman of all time in tests and ODIs, but as I mentioned above, I think he was the best.

Largely because the game has not seen a bigger match winner than Ricky Ponting.

In test matches, 30 out of his 41 centuries resulted in a win, as compared to 20 (51) for Tendulkar and 21 (44) for Kallis. In ODIs, 25 out of his 30 centuries resulted in a win, as compared to 33 (49) for Tendulkar.

He was involved in 108 test match victories and 262 ODI victories as a player. No other cricketer has been involved in 100 test victories, with the closest being Shane Warne with 92. Kallis and Tendulkar have been involved in 76 and 66 respectively and are the only two cricketers with more than 60 test victories who are not retired yet.

In ODIs, his closest rivals that are still playing are Tendulkar (234 ODI victories), Kallis (206), and Shahid Afridi (195).

These are records that will probably never be broken and Ricky Ponting will remain as the biggest match winner that cricket has ever seen.


Earlier this year, when Ponting's ODI career ended, I wrote about my top 5 Ponting ODI innings and hoped that I wouldn't have to write about my top 5 Ponting Test innings any time soon. But here I am, nine and half months later, doing just that.

The Big Comeback in Adelaide, January 2012
Ponting had not scored a test century for two years when the series against India began on Boxing day last year. In the second test of that series, Ponting broke that drought with a 134 in Sydney. Many wondered whether the form was back or if it was just a glimpse of Ponting of the past. In the 4th and final test of the series in Adelaide, Ponting cracked the 6th double century of his career, scoring 221.

It was one of the finest test innings ever because of the circumstances and the way it was played. No one knew how much longer Ponting would play, and everyone knew he was no longer the batsman that bowlers all around the world feared. He was a much more sedate Ponting who played a classical test innings of 221. His runs came at a strike rate of 54.7 and included only 21 boundaries.

That was not the Ponting we all knew, but it was a determined Ponting who was fighting to play on for far longer than the 11 months since then.

A Stunner in Sydney, January 2006
South Africa declared their second innings on 194-6 to set Australia a target of 287 in 76 overs. It was a sporting declaration and one done in order to try and square a series. That was the only way for Graeme Smith and company. Most of us thought that the match will end in a draw unless South Africa were able to pick up a few quick wickets.

No one really expected Australia to chase down the target even though they were known to score at 3.5-4.0 runs an over in test cricket during those days. But it was a day 5 pitch.

Ponting had other ideas. He walked into bat at 30-1 in the 12th over of the innings and unleashed a belligerent attack on South Africa. He smashed 16 boundaries on his way to an unbeaten 143 of only 159 deliveries and Australia raced to the target in only 60 overs scoring at 4.76 on a day 5 test match wicket.

Only Ponting was capable of something like that.

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Master Class in Manchester, August 2005
The 2005 Ashes is definitely a sour memory for Ponting the captain. But Ponting the batsman will be remembered for playing one of the best test innings ever to save a test match during that series. The series was level at 1-1 going into the 3rd test at Old Trafford and England were brimming with confidence hoping to take a lead.

England were on top throughout this test and had set Australia an improbable target of 423 with the Michael Vaughan giving his bowlers a full day and 10 overs to dismiss the Australians.

It was yet another game that many thought would go England's way. Victory for Australia was highly unlikely and no one really expected the Aussies to fight it out for 100+ overs considering their attacking nature of play.

But where there is Ponting, there is a way. Ponting threw down the anchor in that innings like never before. He curbed his natural instinct and put together his best rearguard effort ever. He batted for 9 minutes short of 7 hours, faced 275 deliveries, and scored 156.

He came to the crease at 25-1 in the 11th over of the innings and the 8th delivery of the final day of the test. He did not leave the crease till the 104th over of the innings, just 4 overs before the close of play. He was the 9th batsman out for Australia and the last pair ensured that Ponting's effort did not go to waste and hung on for a draw.

If even one more recognized batsman had stayed on with Ponting, he might have even gone for the target as Australia ended 52 runs short. But no other batsmen for Australia crossed 40 in that innings, which shows the true master class of Ponting's 156.

The Fightback in Perth, November 1999
Ponting was having a torrid time against Pakistan with his 3 innings in the first 2 tests of the series reading 0,0,0. Wasim, Waqar, and Shoaib had got him once each and he was horribly out of form. In the third test, Pakistan's pacers were on top and had Australia reeling on 54-4 when Ponting walked out to bat.

From there on, Wasim, Shoaib, Mahmood, and Saqlian had no answer as Ponting produced a magnificent innings of 197. He was involved in a 300+ run partnership with Justin Langer that not only rebuilt Australia's innings, but also took the game away from Pakistan.

For a man who was woefully out of form, he should have been a sitting duck for the in form Pakistani pacers; yet Ponting rose to the occasion and batted like he had never to notch up his then highest test score.

Putting it Right in Bangalore, October 2008
In 14 previous test innings in India, Ponting had managed only one fifty - a highest score of 60 in Kolkata in 1998. He had never crossed 18 in the other 13 innings. He had always struggled on the spinning tracks of India, with the most famous rut coming during the 2001 series where he managed 17 runs in 5 innings including 3 ducks.

So when he captained Australia to India in 2008, no one gave him a chance.

Throughout his career, Ponting has been at his most dangerous when people have not given him a chance. He has always stood up and proved them all wrong, and the first test of the 2008 series against India in Bangalore was another such occasion.

Ponting walked out to bat on the 4th delivery of the first morning of the series and grinded it out for five and half hours for a well made 123. His nemesis, Harbhajan Singh, and Anil Kumble could not do much to unsettle Ponting who was determined to prove his detractors wrong.

With his first century in India, he ensured that he had scored a test century in every country where he had played at least two tests (Ponting has played only 1 test each in Pakistan and Zimbabwe; the only two countries where he doesn't have a test century).

For all that Ponting has achieved he deserves trophies from the board, the players, and the fans.

Ricky Ponting is a legend of the game and in my view the best batsman to have played the game. There was none like him, and highly unlikely that there ever will be. There was a time when it seemed like he will overtake Tendulkar as the leading run scorer in tests, but a Tendulkar purple patch coincided with a Ponting run rut and that record remained elusive.

Nevertheless, Ponting leaves the game as its biggest ever match winner, and that tag will remain with him forever.

So the Pakistan vs England test series has finally witnessed a century, and it had to come from one of the most reliable batsmen out there - Younis Khan.

I had been waiting for a Younis Khan century throughout the series and he finally did it today. The most satisfying bit for me about this century was that I called it yesterday and I was there at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium to witness it.

What a knock Younis played.

He and Azhar Ali have all but batted England out of the game. I reckon the 180 lead that Pakistan have right now is more than enough to give Pakistan the whitewash that they have been dreaming of.

Think about it. Out of the 5 England innings so far in this series, they have crossed 200 only once. And I doubt they will do it again.

At this stage of his career, no one besides Rahul Dravid had more runs than Younis Khan did. There is a big difference between the averages of Younis and the rest, however after 76 tests Ponting had the same number of test centuries as Younis does now, with only Sachin ahead of the pack.

Yet, we still salute the true King Khan - Younis Khan!

For now, lets forget about the bad and the ugly, and lets just concentrate on the good. The good that we have witnessed on the cricket field. There have been plenty of moments to cherish in the year gone by, and here are my personal Top 10 performances from 2010.

Pakistan has never been short of quality pacers and they have always been known for the young fast bowlers they unleash on the world. This one though was an exception; at 32 no one really expected what Tanvir Ahmed showcased on his test debut against South Africa in Abu Dhabi. 6 wickets in an innings is a significant achievement; on a dead wicket its an even bigger one. But to achieve that on debut, including wickets in your first and second overs in test cricket, and to get scalps of Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, and Hashim Amla in your first outing is something that Tanvir Ahmed will always be remembered for.

9. Finally a 200

There are two performances that can qualify under this title, but one of them deserves a much higher rank on my list. When Jacques Kallis flicked Jaidev Unadkat to the fine leg boundary, he reached the score of 200 for the first time ever in his test career. The way AB DeVilliers, his partner at the crease, and the rest of the South African team in the dressing room celebrated showed what the feat meant to Kallis and to the team. It was a huge rabbit that had been disturbing Kallis' back, and its finally of it. The significance of the feat lies in the fact that Kallis had played over 140 test matches, batted over 240 times, scored over 11,000 runs, and hit 37 centuries in a career spanning 15 years before he hit his first double century!

The only triple century in test cricket in 2010 was scored by Chris Gayle. And what a triple century it was! Gayle single handedly demolished Sri Lanka in a brutal innings of 333. His innings came off only 437 deliveries and included 34 boundaries and 9 sixes. Gayle has played a number of whirlwind knocks in all formats of the game, but this innings is surely one of his most memorable ones in my book.

With his ability to take wickets slightly on the wane, Harbhajan Singh became quite vocal about the dead pitches being prepared for test matches. Once he realized that his rants were falling on deaf ears, Bhajji decided that it might be best to stop complaining about the lack of wickets, and start making the most of the dead pitches by scoring some runs. He first notched up a 69 in the 1st innings of the 1st test against New Zealand. He follows that up with 115 in the next innings, his first ever test hundred. To make sure that the ton was not regarded as a fluke, Bhajji returned in the 2nd test with another century - this time an unbeaten 111. Its widely considered that batsmen peak at the age of 30 and Harbhajan Singh has done exactly that.

Hatricks are always memorable and fun to watch in cricket. There weren't many this year, but the one that will probably remain in my mind is Peter Siddle's hatrick on the first day of the Ashes series that is currently going on. Returning to test cricket after a back injury, Siddle had a lot to prove. And how he managed to do it by snaring a well set Alistair Cook, Matt Prior, and Stuart Broad in successive deliveries to set up the series in most emphatic fashion. It was truly the best way to kick off an Ashes series.

This one is a nightmare for Pakistani fans, but when looking at it purely from a cricket fan point of view, Michael Hussey's unbeaten 60 in the semi final of the World T20 against Pakistan is the best ever T20 innings in my books. Since the days of Wasim and Waqar, I have never seen anyone take a game away from a team the way Hussey took the game away from Pakistan. His 60 took a mere 24 deliveries and when he came to the crease Australia still required 87 runs to win in 7.3 overs with half the team back in the pavilion. It looked impossible even when 47 runs were required of the final 3 overs, and even when 18 were required of the final over. For Hussey that day, impossible was nothing.

When England won the 4th test against Australia at the MCG in the ongoing Ashes series, they also retained the Ashes and did what no other English team had done in 24 years - win the Ashes on Australian soil. The celebrations at the end of that test will be etched in my mind for a long time to come - the way the England team celebrated just shows how much the victory means to them. And we can all admit that there is that extra pleasure that we all derive out of watching Australia lose.

No one could have imagined in their wildest dreams that Pakistan would beat Australia in a test match, let alone bowl them out for 88. Pakistan did both, and how! It was one of the sweetest ever test victories for Pakistan in the 2nd test against Australia at Leeds. It took Pakistan 15 years to beat Australia in a test match, which made the victory even sweeter. The batsmen made all of us sweat and they made it more difficult than it was, but when it ended it felt really good. If Pakistan's batsmen had done better during the year, Australia's 88 would have been the lowest test total in 2010.

When a 200 would be scored in an ODI was something that everyone wondered. Sanath Jayasuriya was widely regarded as the man who would do it first; while many thought that if anyone could do it, it was Adam Gilchrist. Many though Virender Sehwag would be the one to achieve the feat. I used to hope no one ever gets there so that Saeed Anwar's record remains intact; secretly I used to dream of Shahid Afridi doing it. But I can safely say that if there was anyone who deserved to achieve the feat first and who deserved to break Saeed Anwar's record, it is Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin holds most of the batting records there are in ODI cricket and Test cricket, and the first ever 200 in ODI cricket is also his! Even though it came of only 147 deliveries, it wasn't an all out slog fest, but rather a classical innings from the game's greatest ever batsman. It came in the 2nd ODI against South Africa in Gwalior and fittingly it was the last ODI Sachin played in 2010. This one, I will never forget.

Pakistan are generally extremely bad at chasing a total. When the total is as high as 286, they are even worse. No one really expects Pakistan to chase a low total, let alone one as high as 286. And then when Shahid Afridi gets out leaving the team at 136-5 in 29 overs, most people would turn their TVs off considering that the 286 is now an impossible task. Very few people believed that Abdul Razzaq walked out to the crease in the 30th over and hit an unbeaten 109 off 72 deliveries with 10 sixes and 7 boundaries to take Pakistan to a 1 wicket victory with 1 ball to spare over South Africa in Abu Dhabi! It was that type of innings that you don't get to watch ever. It was that type of innings that you can never forget. In my books, it was the best ever ODI innings played in a chase, not only this year, but in ODI history. The way Razzaq single handedly took the game away from South Africa was quite unbelievable. I said above that I had not seen someone take a game away like Hussey did since the days of Wasim and Waqar. Well for me, Razzaq's feat was a notch above what Wasim and Waqar used to do as well.

Many Pakistanis will say that 2010 was a cricket year they would like to forget; despite that I believe that there were many positives that can be taken out of the year for Pakistan cricket and cricket in general. It was a memorable year in more ways than one, and Pakistan ended 2010 on a victorious note with their largest ever win in a T20 game.

Here's hoping to a better 2011 with many more victories for Pakistan, and many more memorable cricket performances all around the world.

However a year ago, a 19 year old boy made his debut for Pakistan and immediately made a stunning impact. Over the last year, Umar Akmal, has shown the world that he can single handedly take the game away from the opposition.

He has been the anchor of Pakistan's batting line up, he has been the aggressor, he has been the accumulator, and he has been the backbone all in one!

I haven't seen a Pakistani batsman make such an impact in international cricket since 1991 when a 21 year old Inzamam Ul Haq made his debut.

Such is the extent of Umar's talent that Waqar Younis has hailed him as the most talented cricketer he has seen in the last 15-20 years!

That is quite a bold statement given the number of talented cricketers that Australia, Pakistan, India, and other teams have produced over the last 2 decades.

There are so many that I can't even begin to list them here.

So how good is Umar Akmal really?

A test century on debut, a fifty in his second ODI and a hundred in his third, an average nearing 50 in tests and nearing 40 in ODIs, a number of match winning innings in limited overs cricket, and over 500 runs in both formats of the game.

All this and he's been around for only a year. A year that can be described as possibly Pakistan's worst year in international cricket.

Very few batsmen attack the ball the way he does; and very few batsmen are at such ease at the crease as Umar is.

In my mind the five modern day batsmen that have had a significant impact on the game, in both tests and ODIs, are Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, and Inzamam Ul Haq.

All of them have had distinguished careers, while some of them are still going strong.

Its not right to place Umar Akmal in the same category as these great batsmen, but the way he has played over the last one year, I have no doubt that Umar will go on to become one of the greatest batsmen of his time.

The table below shows how the launch of Umar's test career compares with that of the modern day greats of the world.

Sachin, Kallis, and Inzamam had relatively slow starts to their test careers. Umar's initial record is quite similar to Brian Lara's; and even though the data set is too small to make a judgement, the similarity between Umar's strokeplay and Lara's is quite apparent.

Both play fearless cricket and attack the bowlers confidently. Umar's confidence was clear when he took on Australia in Australia late last year.

Only Lara scored more, only slightly, than Umar has in his first 12 innings at the test level.

While in ODIs, Umar has scored more runs in his first 18 innings, than Sachin, Kallis, Ponting, and Lara did. Only Inzamam, whom Umar has comfortably replaced in Pakistan's batting line up, scored more in the first 18 ODI innings.

Surprisingly, Kallis also had a bright start to his ODI career with him averaging above 40 in his first 18 innings.

All of these men went on to become exceptional batsmen; only time will tell if Umar can match up to them.

So far all signs show that he can and he will. I haven't seen any weaknesses that bowlers can exploit; every time he has lost his wicket, it has been due to playing an aggressive stroke.

I doubt Umar's aggression will ever decrease; Lara batted aggressively till his last day on the field, while Ponting does so even now. Umar seems to be in the same mould.

As he matures and gains experience, some of his rash strokes will decrease naturally making him into an even more dangerous batsman.

Umar has a long road ahead of him and as long as he can remain disciplined, I believe he will go down in history as one of the best batsmen to play for Pakistan.

Maybe even in the world.

Here's a look at some at the conclusion of the Super 8 stage.