The Velvet Sledgehammers - Younis Khan & Mohammad Yousuf by Ammar Bin Muhammad Ashraf is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
First Mohammad Yousuf, at his best, watching Yousuf bat is an unnervingly tranquil experience, especially amid the traditional chaos of a Pakistan batting order. He has a dangerously high backlift, which makes every shot he plays, a late, unhurried afterthought, but a beautiful one. The feet take time to get going, but once they do, they dance with the best. Square and behind it on the off side are his areas, where his game is the most enchanting.
Younis Khan, it is as a batsman, and a fearless one, that he made his name first, playing with a flourish. He is especially strong in the arc from backward point to extra cover. He is prone to getting down on one knee and driving extravagantly. But this flamboyance is coupled with grit.
Muhammad Yousuf breaks Vivian Richard Record:
The year 2006 has been a spectacular one for Mohammad Yousuf. It started off with a 199-ball 173 against India at Lahore, and since that knock, he hasn't looked back, finishing with an aggregate of 1788, beating Viv Richards's tally of 1710 quite handily to wrest the record of most number of runs in a calendar year. Younis Khan helped Mohammad Yousuf a lot in this year to grab this big record for Pakistan.
Following is the table of partnership list of Mohammad Yousuf in 2006.
Younis Khan's Triple Hundred:
Younis Khan is the second fastest Pakistani in terms of innings to reach 4000 Test runs, behind Javed Miandad. Younis reached the milestone in 87 innings, just one more than Sachin Tendulkar took. In year 2009, Younis became the third Pakistan batsman after Hanif Mohammad and Inzamam-ul-Haq to reach a triple-hundred.
Younus Khan topped the ICC's Test Batting Rankings in February 2009 after an acclaimed innings of 313 in his first test as captain, in the process of helping save the match for Pakistan.
THE 2 BIG:
Most teams tend to rely on three or four batsmen more than others, but in Pakistan's case the difference between the contribution of the two stars and the rest is stark. Younis Khan along with Mohammad Yousuf has been head and shoulders above the rest of the Pakistan batsmen, which the table below confirms. The other specialist batsmen - Imran Farhat, Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq, to name a few - have all had very modest success.
In the 34 Tests (1 Jan 2005 - 26 July 2009) that Yousuf and Younis have played during this period, they've averaged 63.63, scored 30% of the team's total runs and nearly 50% of the hundreds. Remove the two from the equation, and Pakistan have only averaged 29.37 runs per wicket.
Let's look at how Pakistan's reliance on the super duo compares with other teams' dependence on their two best batsmen during the same period. Clearly, the team of Yousuf and Younis have outperformed the group of champion batsmen from other teams.
They were more prolific than any other middle-order pair, averaging more than 100 runs per completed partnership. In the 24 innings they batted together, they added at least 50 runs on 15 occasions, and went on to a century stand seven times. Below table will give you a clear cut idea of these two superstars dominance.
These two have proved in the past how important they could be for Pakistan and their records speak for themselves. Pakistan needs these two batsmen in their batting line-up as they are seniors. They have ability to transfer their skills to the next generation of Pakistan Cricket. Players like Asad Shafiq, Umar Amin, Fawad Alam, Azhar Ali, Umar Akmal and many more should learn as much as they can from these two superstars. We all know that how badly we miss these two batsmen on England tour.
Article compiled by Ammar Ashraf
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nice post thank for sharing this.
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