Younis Khan was all set to his 10,000 runs mark. A sweep shot played against Roston Chase gave Younis Khan a lot to celebrate.
Why Are Younis Khan 10000 Runs So Important?
Many international test crickets have achieved this milestone. However, Younis Khan is the first Pakistani test cricket to have reached 10,000 runs milestone in test cricket.
Younis Khan averaged 53 runs and took 208 innings to accomplish this goal. He is the sixth fastest batsman to have made 10000 runs.
Younis Khan Taking Over Javed Miandad
Younis Khan took over Javed Miandad’s test record as the highest run scorer from Pakistan back in October 2015. Javed Miandad had made 8,832 runs, whose record stood for a long time before anyone could break it.
Younis Khan took a year and a half with 14 matches and an average of 47 to reach his milestone. He credited his success to his family and Bob Woolmer who briefly coached the Pakistan cricket team before his demise.
“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. This is not just my achievement; this is for everyone in Pakistan, this is Pakistan’s achievement.”
About His Absence from Pakistan Cricket
Younis Khan said that he believed someone else would take his place by stepping up and performing for the country. He also talked about his efforts to groom the young talent in Pakistan cricket.
“I don’t think after retirement there should any problem in the team. 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.”
Coaching After Retirement
Younis Khan also revealed his seriousness about taking the game of cricket to the next level. He vowed to keep on supporting and mentoring the young talent.
“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.”
After retirement Younis Khan will be missed in Pakistan test team. However, it is heartening to see a player like him transferring his skills to the youngsters. Hopefully, he will help Pakistan create the kind of batting talent our team always lacked. He is not the only one, Misbah too will retire after the West Indies test series.
