Can Pakistan afford Younis Khan's retirement so close to departure of Misbah-ul-Haq?

[MenInG]

Rumours circulating seem to indicate that he may also be considering hanging up his boots after the tour of the West Indies.

All that may be great but is the Pakistan Test batting line-up ready to take the shock of Younis and Misbah leaving together?

 

[silentkiller187]

This is definitely a step in the right direction, no time like the present to inject some new blood and move this team forward, misbah and younis were never going to be around forever, and in my opinion have out lived their stay in the team. Babar azam looks like a good prospect for the middle order, and as has probably been mentioned plenty of times before, maybe Fawad can do a misbah and come in to the team later than he should have

 

[DRsohail]

for that MISBAH should have not played this series so the youngster would have got chances...YK should stay till next year tour of England..

 

[ExpressPacer]

Yes. Absolutely. Younis should get his 10K runs and call it a day. I expect him not to because he's going so strong and he may want to retire by the time he's at least 41. But this batting line up desperately needs the likes of Fawad Alam, a fit Harry and perhaps Sami Aslam.

However, if Younis is going to be replaced with nepotistic mediocrity like Shan Masood, Hafeez or someone else, I'd much rather have Younis Khan stay because he's still better than those folk.

 

[zacattakk]

Ideally, they should have staggered their retirements, with Misbah retiring earlier, allowing his replacement to come in and learn the art of batting and playing long innings from Younis Khan. Then once he got some experience, Younis should have retired with his replacement coming in and hopefully learning from Azhar and Asad. Misbah staying on this long was a very selfish decision; he should have retired at the end of the Australia debacle at the latest, allowing a new batsman on this relatively easier tour.

So both going out together is not ideal, but given how inconsistent the two of them have become, it may not be the worst thing in the world if Younis goes as well, unless he starts performing more than once a series.

 

[Rayyman]

It will actually be a step in the right direction. Look at India for example, they took out all of their oldies and struggled for a bit, but now they are #1.

Taking both of them out will make an extra spot for an all-rounder,
which we need in Test cricket.

It's not like there are no other seniors in the team, Sarfraz, Asad and Azhar are all there.

 

[shaz619]

Absolutely not, there is not one batsman who is fit to replace Khan; there is more talent in Khan's tiny toe then the entire batsman coming up from the domestic circuit. Younis Khan is still hungry to score runs, is performing well enough and his experience will be vital in this rebuilding phase.

 

[MenInG]

Lot of news reports coming through about his impending announcement of retirement.

 

[Markhor]

I agree with staggering the retirements. Instead of retiring with Misbah in the West Indies, Younis can retire after the summer's Bangladesh tour where we need good players of spin against a side more confident in Test cricket especially at home.

We then play Sri Lanka in the UAE in the autumn which would be a good opportunity to groom another middle order batsman.

 

[Citizen4]

it's time to rebuild the team

 

[phoenix363]

I think it is too good to be true to expect Younis to announce his retirement so soon. I would be very surprised if he does.

The trend of Pakistan players playing past their sell by dates continues. The difference with Misbah was that he had done so well and maintained such a good relationship with the board that, even when he had outstayed his welcome, the chairman strongly suggested this series would be his last and he was able to 'gracefully' announce his retirement.

With Younis, I expect him to have at least one good innings this series and that will be enough for him to continue playing.

We have to understand that the majority of these players do not have anything else lined up. So when they retire, that is their income stopped. With families etc, that is always a hard decision to make. Particularly when you feel like you have some cricket left in you.

 

[Junaids]

Over the last five years in Tests outside Asia:

Misbah failed in 17 innings out of 21.

Younis failed in 19 innings out of 23.

Both are absolute liabilities at this age.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Younis is not horribly past it like Misbah is so he can continue playing i guess.

 

[Pete Rose]

I would prefer both go at the same time.

 

[CricFan2012]

Younis is not horribly past it like Misbah is so he can continue playing i guess.

but look at the post above you

 

[JibranAnsari]

We have series against srilanka and bangladesh , no better time to test the new ones.

 

[hadi123]

we have a couple of easy test series coming up before England away again next year. We have to play Bangladesh and Sri Lanka so hopefully if YK doesn't think he can perform in England next year in early May he should hang up his boots after WI and give chance to two newbies to cement place vs Bang and SL

 

[Hasan Cheema]

Pakistan was never short of good and reliable middle order batsmen. Its the top three where Pakistan almost always was deficient. Misbah and Younis's absence won't be felt at all new comer may perform even better than these two. Given Pakistan has to play in SC both should go after WI series

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Misbah was born in 1974 and Younis 1975 so there isn't really much of an option other than losing them both within a short space of each other. Unless people expect Younis to carry on playing until he's 45 that is.

 

[Zahid87]

If he does go, we should be thanking our stars he is finally calling it quits. I thought he would never retire, and it would be a messy fiasco a la Afridi.

 

[MMHS]

Ideally, Misbah should have retired after U.K. tour, he has played almost one year extra, which actually cost PAK team the opportunity to groom a young player. YK still makes the team on merit & should be able to carry for few more Series, particularly those series in Asia.

But, I don't think if YK is asked to retire after WI (10K), it'll impact PAK Test team much.

 

[Mamoon]

Yes it can, and contrary to popular belief, both of the retirements are not voluntary. Not sure if there will be a twist in Younis Khan's tail though. He can still last for another year or so, considering he will not be exposed outside Asia again any time soon.

 

[srh]

Rumours circulating seem to indicate that he may also be considering hanging up his boots after the tour of the West Indies.

All that may be great but is the Pakistan Test batting line-up ready to take the shock of Younis and Misbah leaving together?

YK should wait 3 more test series after Misbah retire before announcing his own retirement

 

[coy0607]

its not ideal, but its not the end of the world

In Shafiq, Azhar, Sarfraz- Pakistan have 3 established test batsmen
Baber, albeit not established, has pretty much locked up a spot in the test team

so its not like there's a lot of uncertainty in the lineup despite Misbah, Younis leaving

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Guys like sachin, dravid, ponting, sangakara, jayawardene, kallis, younis khan etc are irreplaceable. No matter whenever they decide to hang their boots they will always be missed.

 

[Adil_94]

Younis should stay for the next year to help cope with the transition post Misbah.

 

[Hasan123]

Pakistan nerds to move on. We are playing in South Africa and England in the next couple of years, [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] stats tell you everything. What is the need for Younis to pile on the runs vs Lanka, West Indies, and Bangladesh than when we go overseas he struggles with the pace and movement off the pitch.

Younis has been a fantastic player for Pakistan, but it's time to move on.

 

[MenInG]

Younis Khan is to address a presser today in Karachi

 

[Mir jibran]

Younis Khan is to address a presser today in Karachi

end of an era
one thing is for sure we ll never see super fit players like misbah and younis again

 

[JibranAnsari]

So is he ging to announce his retirement today?

 

[Abdul]

So is he ging to announce his retirement today?

According to the rumors flying around, yes.

 

[Pete Rose]

Point is, will it be one of those 'beg me and I will reconsider to stay' type announcements or the real thing.

 

[Bilal7]

Younis should stick around for another year. Still our best batsman, especially in Asia.

 

[Brilliance]

He has been a great servant for Pakistan. Although, I didn't expected him to say goodbye soon but if he does it he will get a massive respect from me. Realistically speaking Pakistan team will struggle with the retirement of two primary batsmen who have been the backbone of batting line up for a long time.He could still have continued for few series to support the newcomer batsmen. But no better time to bid the adeiu than this.

He should be given some role in the PCB. He can coach the U19 players or A team like Dravid does for India.

 

[tahir_dj]

he is doing press conference and decided to retire.

 

[JibranAnsari]

So

Shehzad
Azhar
Babar Azam
Shafiq
Salahuddin
Sarfraz
Fahim
Shadab/asghar
Yasir
fast bowler
fast bowler

I think instead of another batsman pakistan need to play an all rounder. Fahim ashraf or Amir Yamin.

 

[ExpressPacer]

Misbah was born in 1974 and Younis 1975 so there isn't really much of an option other than losing them both within a short space of each other. Unless people expect Younis to carry on playing until he's 45 that is.

Trust me, I think he is already almost 45.

 

[ExpressPacer]

End of an era is the reports are true!

 

[KyoOne]

Yes it can, and contrary to popular belief, both of the retirements are not voluntary. Not sure if there will be a twist in Younis Khan's tail though. He can still last for another year or so, considering he will not be exposed outside Asia again any time soon.

How do you know it is not voluntary?

 

[Arsalan Pro]

Younis should have waited a year more.