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- Karthik Narayan

The Khans in Pakistani and World Cricket have always been special. Majid Khan, Imran Khan, Mohsin Khan are some of those gems. The Latest addition to the KHAN Era has been Younis Khan. Starting from Majid Khan, one of the Finest Opening batsmen, Imran Khan – a great leader, to the ever-dependable wicket-keeper Moin Khan, the KHANS have overwhelmed all of us cricket fanatics with fantastic cricket over the decades gone past and left to come.

Hundred on debut is always an epoch-making event, and Younis Khan knows that best! Younis Khan had a dream debut against the Sri Lankans in the First Test at Rawalpindi in 1999-00. After a not-so-great performance in the first Innings, Younis made the second innings count – coming in at No.7, he made a sublime 107. Five other Hundreds have come since; one would consider his Hundred in Sri Lanka (116 at Galle in 2000) as one of his best knocks, as it came in the Island of Spin.

However, the one against NZ shall rank as the best ever Younis Khan Ton! Though that’s not his highest score, the way he made his runs in that test at Auckland in 2000-01 was stupendous. He missed a rare double of hundreds in both Innings. He mad 91 in the first Innings and an unbeaten 149 in the second. That really set him up as an established middle order batsman for Pakistan.

Sadly, later his poor scores, coupled with some injury problems catapulted him out of the Pakistani team for a year. He had some bad days, so many in between some great days, that Pakistan decided to throw away the excess baggage by crossing his name from the team names for a few matches.

The saddest part of Younis Khan’s test career of 29 tests so far has been that he has frittered away the starts he had, as Test cricket is about converting the starts into big scores. He has made a great comeback into the Pakistan team, showing grit by scoring an exemplary Hundred against the Sri Lankans in the ongoing Test Series in Pakistan, October 2004.

His ODI career also kicked off well, he made the debut against Sri Lanka at Karachi in 1999. He made a good debut, coming at no.7 and a well-made 46. He made his first hundred after missing it a couple of times - A superb 144 against the minnows Hong Kong in the Asia cup 2004.

He has again, failed to capitalize on his good knocks of fifty plus (20 times he has scored fifty and not made it to the Hundred Mark); but then again, his batting position in the Team was never standard. Having started at No.3, he lost that position quickly and since then he has been batting down the order. Hence he could not do full justice to his career of 100 plus ODIs. He averages 32, which is quite good for a middle order batsman who comes more to play with few overs to spare.

Early in his career, this Pathan was quite a slow starter of his Innings, but he has been pivotal in his own growth, he has worked on his technique, and has started scoring quick runs by adapting to the needs of ODI cricket, the crux of which is quick runs and rotation of strike.

A typical Younis Khan Wagon Wheel will show supreme command over the off side, the area where the exquisite drives cut across the fielders at cover and point, and crash into the boundary. He is unique too, the classic cover drive and square drives come in the old-fashioned way - the down-on-one-knee style.

Younis and Youhana provide the much needed impetus and strength to the Pakistan top order. Together they have been the Core of the batting tribe, and with the rich experience of skipper Inzamam, the terrific trio has been serving Pakistan in the recent episodes of Pakistan Cricketing videos from the beginning of this millennium. This 27-year-old cricketer is a stroke maker with all the strokes in his “quiver”, making him a dangerous batsman for the opposition.

He is a very fine fielder who holds the record for maximum number of catches as a Substitute Fielder (4 against Bangladesh in the 2002 Asian Test Championship). He has also done some wicket keeping for Pakistan, most recently in the Paktel cup in Pakistan.

The stamping of the KHAN Official Seal in the Annals of Pakistan Cricket has signaled the arrival of a prolific player. Cricketfundas.com wishes Younis Khan the very best to take on the mantle of Supremacy of the Khan Race and to spread their wings for the years to come.

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