Younis should not even be mentioned in the same breath as Babar in limited overs as a batsman. Babar is ranked among the best in the world. Younis probably wasn’t even top 20 of his time and that’s being generous.
It’s misguided and frankly ignorant to judge a 2000s batter by today’s strike rate standards, given how dramatically white ball cricket has evolved since then. By that flawed logic, Babar would appear to be superior to Inzamam simply because he has more hundreds, a higher average and a better strike rate in ODIs.
Babar may look technically polished against pace and aesthetically pleasing in the nets, much like how commentators once raved about Asad Shafiq’s elegance in practice. But none of that counts if you can’t deliver against full strength attacks from the top five sides (Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India, England). That’s why Babar has so few truly standout white ball innings because he always fails to deliver with impact.
Even the ODI ton against New Zealand during the run chase in the 2019 World Cup was a 7 out of 10 performance. The Pakistan bowlers did 70-80% of the work by restricting to NZ to 237. Babar's hundred was scored at a strike rate of less than 80 and as a result, it dragged the chase to the final over. You might be thinking, why does that matter? Well Pakistan fell short of qualifying for the Semis due to net run rate. There were no demons in the pitch, so Pakistan should've attempted to chase this inside 40-42 overs.
In Pakistan’s 2000s setup, Babar would have been exposed. The spinners of that era would have chewed him up, and the toxic, chaotic environment demanded mental toughness he simply doesn’t possess. Back then, bilaterals, triangular series and Sharjah Cups were contested by full strength sides, unlike today’s diluted attacks. Pakistan’s insistence on fielding their best XI has allowed Babar to pad his stats against weaker opposition.
Outside of his century against New Zealand in the 2019 WC, he’s yet to deliver a truly defining white ball innings. Younis Khan, on the other hand has produced multiple standout knocks. I have made this point on numerous occasions in recent days to your friends, Raja Isthiaq and Gazza, but they do not want to contest this because they know they would be given a good hiding if they were to take it up with me.
YK batted at 3 and played the anchor role well during the 2000s to help the likes of Inzamam and MoYo and the lower order players flourish. This is why I say you cannot evaluate a 2000s batter by modern strike rate standards.
Mamoon is also of the opinion that YK was competent ODI player but in his view he believes he should have batted lower down the order, as his best performances came at 6, where he averaged 40+ with a strike rate of just over 90.
Another reason why YK was a bigger white ball asset is because his captaincy was instrumental to Pakistan's only WT20 triumph. In that tournament, he averaged well over 50 with the bat and scored his runs at a strike rate of 140, which was the same as Afridi's. Out of the top 10 run scorers in that competition, only Dilshan, Kevin Pietersen and AB de Villiers were scoring their runs quicker than them.
I gave up on Babar a long time ago and I have no regrets. He’s mentally fragile, selfish and unwilling to improve. His lack of cricketing intelligence was plain to see in his captaincy, so much so that even Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL couldn’t rely on him to make decisions without leaning on Darren Sammy.
Ultimately, Younis’ highs eclipse Babar’s, while Babar’s lows sink lower than Younis’. Babar's inflated stats come from feasting on second string attacks. On paper, he may have surpassed Inzamam, as he's achieved a higher average, strike rate and more ODI tons, but anyone who truly watched Inzamam knows that he wipes the floor with Babar.
To summarise: Younis Khan wasn’t flawless, I wanted him gone after the 2011 World Cup, and ideally he should have retired from white ball cricket after the 2009 WT20. But overall, he was a far greater white-ball asset than Babar because:
- He performed the anchor role well for Pakistan in the 2000s
- He produced more standout innings
- His captaincy was instrumental to Pakistan’s only WT20 triumph (the less said about Babar's captaincy, the better)
