Mighty Younis becomes first Pakistani to score 10,000 Test runs

KARACHI: Pakistan’s fabulous batsman Younis Khan has added another feather to his cap, becoming the first ever Pakistani cricketer to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket.

Younis reached the landmark with 23rd run of his innings in the ongoing Test against West Indies, which is also the last series of his career, making his signing off from international career even more memorable. 

The 39-year-old became Pakistan’s leading scorer in October 2015 during Abu Dhabi Test against England by surpassing Javed Miandad’s 8832 runs record. In the Dubai Test of the same series, Younis became Pakistan’s first cricketer to score 9000 runs in Test cricket.

He has now become the first Pakistani and only the 13th ever cricketer to score 10000 runs in the longest and most prestigious format of the game.

Starting his career with a century on his debut against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi, the Khan of Batting also holds the record of most centuries for his country in Test cricket, with 34 scores in triple figures in 115 games.

Of these 34 scores, six were converted into double centuries by Younis - jointly the country’s most with Miandad. However, his 13 scores of 150 or more are the most by anyone from Pakistan.

Younis Khan is one of only three triple centurions of Pakistan cricket; he was third on the list after Hanif Mohammad and Inzamam ul Haq and was later joined by his teammate Azhar Ali.

The master batsman is considered as Pakistan’s backbone in batting. It's no wonder he has contributions in the most century partnerships for Pakistan. Younis contributed in 67 Test partnerships for the country, which is 17 more than Miandad. In worldwide list, he is placed at 8th position with India’s Rahul Dravid contributing in 88 century partnerships.

The list of Younis’ records seems unending, but summing it up it is worth mentioning that he is the only batsman in the world to score a century in 11 different countries, including the UAE.

With 1072 strokes to four runs, Younis is Pakistan’s second in the list of most fours in Test cricket; Inzamam is just 33 boundaries ahead of Younis.

His career batting average of 53.02 is also the best by any Pakistani batsman and the third best by any batsman from Asia.

Meanwhile, let's also have a look at Younis Khan’s journey to 10,000 runs.

The master batsman reached 1000 career runs on 31st January during the second innings of Sharjah Test against West Indies.

He took another 15 Tests to add one more thousand runs to his career totals as he reached 2000 Test runs during Sydney Test against Australia in January 2005.

And in a span of 12 months, he added 1000 runs more to his career milestones to complete 3,000 runs. He was run out for 199 in Lahore Test against India quickly after reaching 3000 runs mark in January 2006.

In the same year, Younis completed 4,000 runs of his career. He reached the milestone during Multan Test against West Indies in November 2006, in 8th inning of his career, making him Pakistan’s second fastest to reach 4000 runs after Miandad.

 

Younis couldn’t play any Test in 2008, but he returned to competitive cricket in 2009 with a remarkable performance in Karachi Test against Sri Lanka when he became Pakistan’s only third triple centurion. He scored 313 runs at the National Stadium, Karachi which also brought 5000 runs of his career.

Younis was also Pakistan’s quickest to reach 5000 runs, in terms of innings batted, by reaching the milestone while playing 106th inning of his career.

The veteran batsman completed 6000 runs with an unbeaten double century against Bangladesh in December 2011.

His took 7,000th run of his Test career during the first innings of second Test against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2013.

Younis completed 8000 runs in the 93rd Test of his career, with a double century against Australia in Abu Dhabi Test in October 2014 and in October 2015, while playing his 103rd Test, Younis completed 9,000 runs, achieving the milestone during 184th batting innings of his career, making him 7th fastest to reach 9000 runs.

Playing 116th match of his career, Younis reached 10,000 runs on April 23, 2017 against West Indies, drawing tributes from former and current cricketing greats from around the world.