Has Younis Khan underachieved in Tests?

[shabir kham]

I saw him bat , he easily looks the guy to score 50 test centuries and 15000 test runs….

 

[Hitman]

Overachieved by a long margin. A fine player in any case.

 

[zarar]

Overachieved mate. He was never supposed to be as good as he ended his career.

At the start of his career many Pakistani fans called him Useless Khan. A lot of credit goes to Bob Woolmer who admired his work ethic incredibly and gave him unbelievable amounts of confidence that he can succeed and if only our old coach was alive to see what he has achieved.

 

[ExplicitAI]

He's achieved the ATG status in Test cricket so he hasn't underachieved. What I will say though is that Pakistan does not play as many Tests as other countries do, given I grew up watching cricket from 2011, I'm happy to have watched Younis Khan play during the best and golden period of his career (2011-2017).

 

[coy0607]

1- Younis didn't underachieve, if anything he overachieved

2- I don't get you reasoning here. Younis could've scored 50 centuries and 1500 runs, but that's not a matter of ability, he just would've had to play a lot more test matches
the only guy to every have 15K runs and 50 centuries played almost twice as many matches as Younis

 

[PakSarZameen]

Not at all, however it would've been good had he played during the 2009-10 season.

 

[Hasan123]

No he hasn't underachieved. In fact with his talent and natural ability he has overachieved. The way he found a way to survive even when he was struggling is admirable and commands respect.

 

[QalandarFan]

I think the other posters have pretty much also stated it he overachieved in his career he was never a greatly talented player but a hardworking gutsy player who found ways to score and score big.

 

[3rdWheel]

He overachieved. He fought hard and earned the rewards

 

[Arham_PakFan]

No he wasn't an underachiever.

Like other posters have said he overachieved.

 

[Suleiman]

Overachiever, Yousuf and Inzi underachieved big time.

People might say otherwise but Yasir Hameed also underachieved, got hard done by a little as well. As did Kami.

 

[kaifmazhar]

I would rather say he underachieved in ODIs. He had good attacking game but somewhere he developed a defensive mindset which killed his ODI game and that actually hurt Pak as well in few games, I remember.

 

[A.A.Z]

He's achieved the ATG status in Test cricket so he hasn't underachieved. What I will say though is that Pakistan does not play as many Tests as other countries do, given I grew up watching cricket from 2011, I'm happy to have watched Younis Khan play during the best and golden period of his career (2011-2017).

His best and golden period was between 2005-2008. He was considered the heir to the throne of the PCT. This was his best period in ODI cricket as well. He was a beast abroad as well.

 

[Ab Fan]

Overachieved given his weak game vs pace bowling.

Its ridiculous to say he underachieved.

 

[kaifmazhar]

Overachieved given his weak game vs pace bowling.

Its ridiculous to say he underachieved.

Weak game against pace?? Are you sure you watched the best of him??

 

[ExplicitAI]

His best and golden period was between 2005-2008. He was considered the heir to the throne of the PCT. This was his best period in ODI cricket as well. He was a beast abroad as well.

He did play well during 2005-2008 but it's only because he played memorable innings vs India. 2011 and onwards he literally scored everywhere around the world and in every series, before the 2015 WC I'd say was when he was wreaking havoc everywhere. I don't think his best period was in 2005-2008 personally.

 

[Rana]

I think true Pakistani critics would not rate Younis's ability as good as that of Inzi, Yousuf and Miandad's calibre. Inzi and Miandad were fighters/matchwinners in ODI cricket too. Therefore for him to have the best accolades in Test cricket at least puts him right up there as a big time over-achiever

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

His record in all four innings, innings per 100 ratio and class is as good as any ATG (test cricket).

If Pakistan played as many tests as England then he'd have achieved 15k / 50 100 goals easily.

But, who cares? For me he is one of the toughest batsmen to play the great game. A match-winner.

 

[Mamoon]

No, he massively overachieved. An average batsman who made his career out of flat tracks. A poor player of lateral movement and was not able to establish himself in Test cricket till 2005 because he repeatedly got exposed by the great bowlers of the 90's.

2005-2010 was a relatively weak era of fast bowling and he made a lot of hay in that period. However, his limitations were brutally exposed in LOIs. Arguably the worst batsman in history to score 10k runs and average 50+.

Undoubtedly a brilliant player of spin bowling and had excellent temperament, but very ordinary in other aspects of batting.

 

[Billy1999]

He has overachieved

With that technique,LOL,I don't know what he was thinking but it worked

When he first came he looked like another classic Pakistani batsman

 

[A.A.Z]

He did play well during 2005-2008 but it's only because he played memorable innings vs India. 2011 and onwards he literally scored everywhere around the world and in every series, before the 2015 WC I'd say was when he was wreaking havoc everywhere. I don't think his best period was in 2005-2008 personally.

Trust me Younis is my favourite player I have followed his career very closely. People use to tune in to watch Afridi play while I use to tune in to watch Younis come in. I love his incredible grit and determination. All the incredible test hundreds against India in that period aside (4 hundreds and 1 double hundred), he also went and had an incredible tour of England and very good tour of South Africa where he scored a trademark 4th innings match winning knock in our 2nd ever and to date last test win in South Africa. He had a decent series in Australia and West Indies as well where he scored another match winning hundred. He also scored back to back hundreds against the mighty South Africans the last time they toured Pakistan. He ended this period with a triple ton against Sri Lanka plus he missed out on a whole year of test cricket in 2008.

While his test batting numbers between 2011-2017 are also very good they were mostly achieved in Uae and he scored literally one hundred in every tour abroad and did little else during those foreign tours. This is why so many fans criticised him because they had come to expect so much more from him as a result of the 2005-2008 period.

But what really sets the 2005-2008 period apart though is his odi peak years. People forget he was our main match winner in odi's during this time. He was the architect of most of our successful run chases. He scored match winning hundreds in Mohali and Karachi against India when chasing massive scores of 300 in those days on both occasions. He even scored an incredible hundred in a chase against England in England. There was also a clutch match winning hundred against India in our last final against them before the 2017 Champions Trophy, which he scored in Dhaka. He was very consistent and reliable during this period. Apart from this period he was terrible in odi's and constatnly criticised post 2011. 2005-2008 was his best period by far.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

He's the most overachieving batsman in history. Has ATG stats with very limited skill and technique. Hard work payed off.

 

[The_Odd_One]

No, he massively overachieved. An average batsman who made his career out of flat tracks. A poor player of lateral movement and was not able to establish himself in Test cricket till 2005 because he repeatedly got exposed by the great bowlers of the 90's.

2005-2010 was a relatively weak era of fast bowling and he made a lot of hay in that period. However, his limitations were brutally exposed in LOIs. Arguably the worst batsman in history to score 10k runs and average 50+.

Undoubtedly a brilliant player of spin bowling and had excellent temperament, but very ordinary in other aspects of batting.

How much did Babar Azam score in Australia in his first series? How much did Kohli score in England?

All batsmen playing against tougher opponents usually fail in their first series. Younis failing in WI against Ambrose, Walsh, etc. prove nothing. A case could have been made had he played at least 2-3 series against them and failing in all of them.

In SA, none of the Pakistani batsman average 40+ so Younis' failure was no exception.

 

[Justcrazy]

He has done what was expected of him . He was never a world beater , also never a slouch.