Daily Times

Yasir Shah did it again. Pakistan’s magician spinner ran through the batting line-up to spearhead seven-wicket rout of the West Indies in the first Test in Kingston, Jamaica on Tuesday. With this magnificent triumph, Pakistan have taken a big step towards winning their first-ever Test series in the Caribbean. Yasir wrapped up the hosts innings with the wickets of tailenders Alzarri Joseph and Shannon Gabriel in the space of four deliveries in his 22nd over, finishing with the excellent innings figures of 6 for 63 and a match haul of 8 for 154. There was rain expected across all five days, with dry spells in between. While the batsmen’s role in giving a first-innings cushion can’t be overstated, it was the bowlers who ensured victory was possible despite losing almost all of the second day to rain.

In the first innings fast bowler Mohammad Amir’s spell was brilliant. Finishing with 6-44 off 26 overs, it was Amir’s best haul since returning to the Test team last year after serving a five-year ban for his role in a spot-fixing scandal. In the second innings, Yasir’s spell was incredible. Getting six wickets in no time was the game changer. This was the fifth time two Pakistan bowlers had taken six wickets in a Test innings of a Test, and the first since 2002. The one worry Pakistan could have been that going in with just one spin bowler risks overworking the faster bowlers. This concern, however, did not manifest itself during the game, with West Indies lasting just 147.4 overs across both innings. The lady luck was also on the side of outgoing veteran skipper Misbahul Haq who himself played no small part. Having contributed 99 not out to stretch the first-innings lead, which eventually proved decisive, he came out to biff two successive sixes to seal the game.

One feels that Younus Khan, who deservedly took the limelight, is determined to do well in his farewell series and bid goodbye in style to the game that he adores as much as former great Javed Miandad used to, serving his country in situations that are beyond ordinary mortals. Playing his first Test in the Caribbean after missing the 2011 tour due to the death of his brother, former captain Younus became the first Pakistan batsman to score 10,000 Test runs. Younus brought up arguably the most cherished milestone of his illustrious career in this Test. Many Pakistan’s batsmen were left behind in the race for the top as the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, and Kumar Sangakkara who piled on the runs all around the world. Our modern batting greats Inzamamul Haq and Mohammad Yousuf played some historic innings of their own and made big runs but failed to make it to the 10K club.

Mocked and ridiculed both by experts and connoisseurs of the game for his ‘jumping’ and hopping at the crease in the first three Tests of the 2016 England tour, Younus responded with a match winning 218 at the Oval, an innings which made the world notice the exploits of the Mardan born and his unmatched pedigree as Pakistan’s run machine. The detractors were silenced once again, earlier this year, when Younus also became the first batsman to score centuries in all 11 countries that have hosted Tests after completing his set with a maiden ton in Australia. The number of records Younus has set in the recent past is something we as a nation can take great pride in. Younus was stuck on 9,999 runs at the tea break on the third day at Sabina Park but did not have to wait much longer for his moment to come. On the second ball of the final session, Younus swept off-spinner Roston Chase to the fine-leg boundary to reach the milestone which he was eagerly awaiting for quite some time.

He took 208 innings to reach the 10,000 mark, and has averaged just over 53 runs in his 116-Test career, scoring 34 centuries. India’s Sunil Gavaskar became the first player to score 10,000 Test runs in 1987 while his compatriot Sachin Tendulkar heads the all-time list with 15,921. In 2009, he led his country to a World T20 win at Lord’s where they defeated Sri Lanka to lift the trophy. Younus played 265 one day internationals and amassed 7,249 runs before stepping back from the format in 2015. Younus had been Pakistan’s leading run-scorer in Tests since October 2015, when he went past Miandad’s tally of 8832 runs during the Abu Dhabi Test against England.

Younus has also expressed his aim to continue mentoring younger players, sharing his goals of setting up an academy and gaining coaching qualification that would allow him to work with age-group teams. He has done the Level-2 coaching course with an intent to do it further, take it to level 3 and level 4.

He wants to associate himself 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. Younus wants his fans to remember him as a ‘servant’ of Pakistan cricket. And he will always be remembered and cherished as Pakistan’s pride!