A batsman who has 30 test centuries with an excellent conversion rate, along with a few double-centuries and a mammoth triple-century "doesn't have much of a case"? A batsman who averages 50+ both away and in the fourth innings of a test match, in addition to having a century against every single team that he has played against, "doesn't have much of a case"? A batsman who has played several iconic knocks against an array of diverse bowlers whilst batting in both, the top and middle order, doesn't have a case? A batsman who is arguably, among the top ten players of spin of all time and who has a very good record in pace bowling havens like England, New Zealand and Australia, "doesn't have much of a case"?
ATG status is not attained only by accumulation of runs and hundreds. You cannot be a great if you do not stand out among your peers and competitors, and this has been Younis' problem throughout his career.
He was overshadowed by Inzi and MoYo earlier on in his own team, and interestingly enough, in matches both played together, MoYo has actually outperformed him and played better overseas knocks as well (Australia 04; England 06). Not to mention batsmen in other teams like Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting, Kallis, Dravid who towered above him.
In the last 5-6 years after emerging from Inzi and MoYo's shadow and becoming the undisputed main batsman in the team, he still hasn't been able to rise above his competitors, with the likes of Sangakkara, Amla and de Villiers enjoying superiority over him.
The ultimate legacy of Younis Khan is that of a batsman who was undoubtedly a great for his country, but was not good enough to be even among the top 3 batsmen of his time and hence, he does not qualify for the most universally acceptable criteria of ATG-ness. Younis the Test batsman is comparable to Chanderpaul. Terrific stats, runs, hundreds, averages etc., but never good enough to stand out in his era.
If you consider Chanderpaul an ATG then your criteria is quite a different one, and one that is not shared by most of the neutral observers.
Please. Younis will end his career as an ATG and you, being a Pakistani should be happy about that, not bitter. It is also strange that you say that Younis, "doesn't have much of a case" as far as being an ATG goes but then go on to say that if he scores runs in Australia and England next year, he'll become as good as Kallis and Dravid. If scoring some runs overseas next year is all that it takes to make Younis as good as Dravid, surely he does have a case for ending up as an ATG, right now.
The problem is that at his age, performing well in Australia and England is quite a long shot, but if he can overcome all of that and perform brilliantly, he will certainly have a very strong case.
Keep in mind that performing in overseas conditions is not necessary to become one of the top batsman in the world at a certain point; someone can be the best batsman in the world after a terrific home season, but titles like ATG etc. are based on your entire careers, and when you consider the entire career, performances in overseas conditions do have a significant role.
Younis has not played in Australia since 2004/2005 and England since 2006 - that is an extremely long time, and it certainly counts against him. He played very well in Australia and England at that time, but he was overshadowed by MoYo in both countries, and thus Younis once again failed to stand out when he had a batsman of comparable class in his team.
Younis only became the stand out batsman for Pakistan from 2010 onwards when both Inzi and MoYo retired (unofficially) and he was surrounded by two rookies in Azhar and Shafiq, as well as Misbah who was never a great.
He had a chance to prove his class in South Africa in 2013 but he failed in both the first and third Test on lively wickets, couldn't even score a 50. He cashed in on the dry wicket of Cape Town but so did Shafiq, and thus once again failed to stood out when he had the opportunity and wasn't even our top scorer.
This is the story of his career - that lack of extra bit to help him come into the limelight. His dominating performance vs. Australia last year was his first in nearly 9 years where he had stamped his authority on the series rather than score in one innings and go missing in the rest, which is why that series has potentially pushed him close to the ATG status, but as I mentioned before, it all depends on how he performs in England and Australia next year.
If he does well, he can sneak into the lower-tier ATG category.
As for Cook, let it be known that I do think he will end up as one of the all-time greats, possibly even better than someone like Smith. There is a possibility that he won't make it, keeping in mind how the careers of his English peers like KP, Trott, Strauss and even Bell went off-track due to various reasons. However, I believe Cook will make it.
Cook has pretty much made it already. He is only 30 and has achieved more in his career than the vast majority of Test openers in history, and is already breaking records of veterans like Kallis. He has dominated Australia and India away from home and helped his team triumph, and he is potentially going to break Tendulkar's records as well.
Not to forget, he is leagues above other Test openers of his time.
My only problem is with the double-standards that are used with regards to the domination over the bowlers criteria, if you can call it that. Just a couple of days ago, Younis was never going to be an ATG because he doesn't dominate the pacers but that doesn't seem to be a hindrance for Cook.
No need to twist and turn here, dominating certainly does not refer to accumulating runs at your own (slow) pace. This is what Kallis, Dravid and Chanderpaul have done for most of their careers and Cook is no different to these batsmen. The bowlers were generally, never put off their line and length by these steady accumulators, their rhythm was not tinkered with and there was never a threat of the game being taken away by these types. They were certainly never dominant over the bowlers. The game does need it's accumulators and defensive batsmen though, which is why both Kallis and Dravid are two of the best of all time and Chanders nearly misses out.
You are confusing attacking cricket with dominance. In Tests, you can be dominant even if you are an accumulator, if that was the case then Kallis and Dravid won't be considered all-time greats. However, if you are attacking and capable of destroying the opposition, then it certainly goes in your favor; the likes of Viv Richards, Lara, Ponting and even KP would be rated lower than they are now if they weren't attacking, and that is why Cook will not rank alongside the former three because of the brand of cricket that he plays, but that does not mean that it will stop him from becoming an ATG.
For Younis it is a certainly a problem; he has not dominated any of the big teams enough and as I've explained already, he got overshadowed by MoYo in Australia and England and couldn't even outscore and outperform Shafiq in South Africa in 2013, so this is where he falls short of greatness.
Younis dominated India in India in 2005 and in Pakistan in 2006. He was our best batsman in both series, which is not surprising given his mastery against spin. However, it was only in UAE vs Australia in 2014 that he once again dominated a series even though he had the opportunities - he did not play in England and Australia in 2010 due to his usual dramas, he failed vs. South Africa in the UAE in 2013 and and I've explained the South African series in 2013 as well.
He had a good series in South Africa in 2006-2007 (was our top scorer I think), but it was Inzamam who played a brilliant back of the wall unbeaten 92 in Cape Town to take us from 160-7 to 260-8 while Younis got bounced out by Ntini for 40 odd early in the innings, and in the second innings while chasing 192 he scored a 50, but it was Kamran whose counter-attacking fifty in that partnership took us home.
In the third Test in difficult conditions, he failed and the only batsmen who showed up was MoYo.
So where is that all-time greatness that you are talking about? What are the innings and performances that tower above the best Inzamam and MoYo have produced and neither of them are ATGs?
He has had plenty of opportunities but he has failed to grab them. Most runs and hundreds is not the defining element, for example MoYo was much better placed than Younis to become our top-scorer and leading century-maker but he wasn't greater than Inzi.
The divide in the batting-order is between the top order (#1-3) and the middle-order (#4-6). The #3 batsman has as tough a job as the openers, because even though he gets a little respite from the innings turnover and the new-ball, he has the added responsibility of being mentally prepared to play a variety of innings, gets exposed to spin bowling more and is expected to score more runs than an opener. There is a reason the greats of the game say that your best batsman should bat at #3.
Number 3 is a tougher position than number 4/5, and the reason why the best batsmen often tend to bat at 3 is because at this position, they are better protected from the new ball and they can grab by the game by the scruff of its neck as well.
This does not make the openers job any easier.
Keeping the above in mind, Cook never was the best top-order batsman at any point in his career. This is without considering that there are only 20 openers competing to be the best in the world, whereas there is a much larger pool of 40 batsmen competing to be the best middle-order batsman in the world. You can even start boosting someone up by saying they are the best batsman in the world at a particular position in the batting order but is it really something great if the competition consists of a handful of batsmen? If you want to use peer-comparison, then keep it simple and talk about who the best batsman in the world is. Cook certainly was never the best batsman in the world.
Again, you cannot compare middle-order batsmen to openers. They are two different specialist jobs. It doesn't matter if they are 20 or 40 openers, the fact is that Cook is well ahead of his competitors and so was Smith before him, and thus both are definite all-time greats.
Yes it certainly great to be so ahead of your peers like Cook is. He is as ahead of others as a Test opener as Steyn is as a Test bowler.
This is the same argument that Steyn's fans use. Just because Steyn is the sole ATG pace bowler in the world today, they cite the massive gap between him and his peers to prove that he's the GOAT as far as fast bowling goes. If you're going to be consistent with your arguments, do you also believe in this? Is Steyn a better bowler than Marshall because the gap between the former and his peers is larger?
I have no issues with someone comparing Steyn with Marshall, given how far ahead he is of his peers. He is averaging 22 when most of the top pacers of his era are averaging between 28-30. That is considerable. That is why I have no problem with people calling Bradman the best ever, given how far ahead he was of his time.
I personally prefer Marshall because he looks like a more exciting and intimidating bowler to me, just like I prefer Wasim over McGrath but we know who the better Test bowler was.
Yes, Ponting moved down to #4 towards the end of his career, I have said as much but it was a tactic implemented to get the best out of him, not because he was suddenly scared of the new ball. The same tactic was used by the Pakistani management and seeing how successful Azhar has been a #3 and how Younis's performances have entered a different level at #4 is justification enough. This isn't a situation like that of Australia where they were trying #3 batsmen left and right and all of them were failing but good 'ole captain Pup never took up the job. Younis was certainly capable of batting at #3 for a lot longer but he didn't need to and would be more beneficial to the team by batting a spot lower, which is what happened.
Just because Azhar did well does not mean it was the right thing to do, and what you call tactic by the think tank has been a tradition of our senior batsmen. None of them were willing to battle the new ball, and Younis is no different in this respect. The fact that he is still not willing to bat at 3 even though Azhar is injured says it all really.
Malik may have scored 245 but he is not a number 3 Test batsman by any means, he should be batting in the middle/lower-oder.
So just because Asian batsmen are good against spin, #4 and #5 and especially easier for them? Are you using their skill against them? By the same token, opening should be the easiest spot for an English batsman because they are great against pace bowling, no?
Opening is not easy in any part of the world, especially in England and South Africa because of the lateral movement. It is no surprise that both Cook and Smith average more away from home. For Test openers, their achievements are remarkable.
4/5 is comfort zone for batsmen everywhere, especially for subcontinental batsman who are good against spin. No wonder Tendulkar, Inzi, MoYo, Younis etc. did not have the guts to bat at 3 for most of their careers.
Like it or not, Younis Khan is a future ATG. Cook is one too, even if he's not as god as Khan.
He isn't, unless he does something special in England/Australia next year; for now he is in the Chanderpaul category, a tier below ATG status.
How is Younis better than Cook? What criteria are you using? Cook has won his team series in Australia and India, where no Englishman can bat. He has just become the must successful overseas batsman in Asia, and he is adept against all types of bowling. Younis is only better at playing spin, but for an Englishman, Cook isn't far behind, while Cook is superior against fast bowling.
You will say Younis has better average, but that is why you cannot go by averages only. Once again, the average of an opener cannot be compared to a middle-order batsman. How many openers in the last 15-20 years have averaged 50+, compared to the number of middle-order batsmen who have?
