The great Younis Khan becomes the first Pakistani batsman to join the elite five-figure club
It’s not easy for a football fan to switch away from Lionel Messi’s heroics against Real Madrid in what was perhaps one of greatest El Clasico games and instead watch a Test match played in front of empty Sabina Park stands in Kingston, Jamaica.
But that’s precisely what millions of Pakistan supporters did in the wee hours of Monday morning as they cheered each and every run scored by Younis Khan, easily one of the greatest batsmen of his generation.
23 was the magical number that Younis was chasing on the third day of the rain-hit opening Test against the West Indies. That was the number of runs that he needed to become the first Pakistani to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket.
Those 23 runs didn’t come easy. Nothing in life ever came easy for Younis. But like all those countless accolades that Younis has gathered in his sparkling 17-year career, they did come.
Needing one more to get to the unique milestone, Younis came after the tea break and swept spinner Roston Chase in his trademark style to get to a place where none of his compatriots had ever set foot. He had joined an elite company featuring the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara.
With that one stroke, Younis earned himself an even higher place in the pantheon of Pakistani cricket legends. He certainly deserves it.
A cricketer, who managed to join the international ranks through sheer hard work and then became a great with more of it, Younis reached the 10,000-run mark in his 208th innings. He averages over 53 and is the sixth fastest to get there among the 13 batsmen who have accomplished this feat.
Though in normal circumstances he is not given into much drama on the field, Younis took his time to celebrate the moment. With a broad smile, he raised his arms as his team-mates and a modest number of spectators applauded. He kissed the star, the symbol of Pakistan cricket, on his helmet and later declared that this was ‘Pakistan’s achievement’.
Younis became Pakistan’s highest run-getter back in the fall of 2015 when he surpassed Javed Miandad’s tally of 8832 runs.
“I credit this success and achievement to all my family members, especially my late father, my mother and the late Bob Woolmer, who always motivated me,” Younis said. “This is not just my achievement, this is for everyone in Pakistan, this is Pakistan’s achievement.”
Younis, 39, is planning to retire after the ongoing three-Test series. With Misbah also quitting after the series, there are fears that Pakistan’s batting will suffer once the senior duo is gone.But Younis was confident that Pakistan will get more batsmen like him.
“I don’t think after retirement there should any problem in the team,” he said. “That’s a part of life. When I came in I saw many legends retiring in 2003 and a lot of youngsters came with Bob Woolmer and we managed to come on top. So it won’t be any problem. Someone else will come and stand like me and perform.
“In last three four years I have completely shared my life with the young players. I have told them how to maintain fitness. I haven’t done anything big on my fitness but 10-15 minutes in my daily routine. It’s a routine that I have kept simple but I have done it on regular basis that it becomes a habit. Once you do something regular, it becomes your habit and things automatically fall in your way. So you have to create it and then you start performing in crisis because that is in your habit.
“I have tried my best to tell them everything - what to do, how to practice, what to do after at the match, what to do after scoring a hundred and what to do after scoring zero. So I am sure if I am not around, they will follow it to become successful. To score 10,000 runs you have to make up your mind first. If you take an example of Virat Kohli after Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement, he went on with an aim and a goal. So I am sure in the coming years he will surpass Sachin.”
Younis hinted that he would give coaching a shot after hanging up his playing boots.“I have done my Level-2 coaching course with an intent to do it further, take it to level 3 and level 4. I want to associate myself with younger teams like Under-15s, Under-19s because that is the spot where coaching should be done and mentoring at that level is a difficult test. So if in the future I manage to work with the PCB, I would want to start from there and help produce players,” he said.