Unfair? I don’t think so and here’s why. I have read that Younis “Hong Kong” Khan has said he doesn’t want to bat at number 3 so all the more reason why Malik deserves extra plaudits for his ‘can do’ attitude. Here’s a late order batsmen who has scored 4 ODI centuries now despite batting mostly low down.
Compare that to Younis who was dancing with joy at scoring his first century against cricketing giants Hong Kong…followed by two massive flops against Sri Lanka and India (surprise).
So yes it’s good that Younis has been shown the path by Malik but I think it’s probably time to show him another path
Coming at number 8 today with three overs to go doesnt count as a flop. He has it in him to be a good player. Had he not scored a century against Hong Kong, ppl would have said that he cannot score a century even against hong kong!
Yes Malik has shown him the way. It is for him to take the bet.
Younis for Asim is a poor choice. At least give Asim a chance to prove himself. Technically he is a far better player than Younis. As for the selectors they have chosen plenty of other "good" players in previous years only to dump them lateron. Remember Afridi?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by saby: *
Had he not scored a century against Hong Kong, ppl would have said that he cannot score a century even against hong kong!
[/QUOTE]
Actually I think the century against Hong Kong was the worst thing he could have done. It just shows that in the 160 or so matches the bowling was too good for a very limited player.
Actually I think the century against Hong Kong was the worst thing he could have done. It just shows that in the 160 or so matches the bowling was too good for a very limited player.
[/QUOTE]
I dont think hundreds should be a criteria to judge a players ability. Like i said in one thread the other day, Steve Waugh only scored two centuries in 300 odd one dayers, was the bowling too good for him and was he a useless player? No, the reason was that he played mostly at number 5-6 position where you dont get much overs to bat with.
I agree that younis has under achieved but hundreds should not be a critiera to judge a player.
Steve Waugh only scored two centuries because of the awesome batting line up ahead of him. In comparison Pak batting line up is regularly 60 odd for 4 so Younis has had plenty of opportunity to score centuries. How many matches has he won as compared to Waugh? Maybe that's a more telling statistic?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Mr Xtreme: *
Steve Waugh only scored two centuries because of the awesome batting line up ahead of him. In comparison Pak batting line up is regularly 60 odd for 4 so Younis has had plenty of opportunity to score centuries. How many matches has he won as compared to Waugh? Maybe that's a more telling statistic?
[/QUOTE]
On the contrary, When Waugh started his career, Australia were rebuilding in late 80's and he batted as high as number 3 in early days.
I am not comparing him to waugh in thier match winning cases. We all know Waugh was a masterclass. Just because younis' number of centuries is a core issue these days, thats why i brought it up. Younis khan has quite a good number of fifties, some 30 if i m not wrong.
Younis's 50's and 30's have come when playing 2nd fiddle to quality players like Inzimam and as soon as they are out it's a straight guarantee that he will fail to finish the job. He is just not a match-winner hence the title of this thread. In fact I would bet that Razzaq has won more matches with the bat and he comes in at no 6 or 7.
^ yes Thats what I would like him to see. Assume more responsibility when in the middle. If he wants to cement a spot, he has to be more consistent with his performances otherwise he has other guys wiaiting to take his place.
One thing is for sure, he will remain in pakistan setup unlike Imran Nazir whom i fear wont get a recall after these failures.
ahhh, the greatness of pak fans. we don't wait one second to make someone king and drag others into the street and beat them to death. Although i agree that asim certainly deserves a chance in place of useless khan, I wonder how many of you were cussing out shoaib malik for his stellar performance against sri lanka.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Atlanta: *
ahhh, the greatness of pak fans. we don't wait one second to make someone king and drag others into the street and beat them to death. Although i agree that asim certainly deserves a chance in place of useless khan, I wonder how many of you were cussing out shoaib malik for his stellar performance against sri lanka.
[/QUOTE]
I have always had a great regard for Malik. He is class, Younis is not.
I’ll bet Asim Kamal will win more matches after playing 50 games let alone 160 or however many Younis has played.
The mark of a mediocre player is when the big stars are out, you can’t win a match off your own bat. Younis Khan is the cricketing equvalent of a chamcha
i'm sick n tired if the younis bashing on this site. it has reached the stage of being ridiculous. first, how can we connect today's effort by malik to yonuis. n if we do that y should we not relate it with ne other batsman [barring inzi] in the side, because all of them have been highly inconsistent n careless in the last little while.
if we can relate it with yonus, then we can also relate it with youhana, who after his magical run in one dayers last year [how many 50s or near 50s did he have in a row?] really became a diff player. he never backed himself for the 3 spot despite being 2nd most senior n alwayz played well when there was no pressure or in lost causes. but i think all this talk is ridiculous coz u cant compare a great innings by deriding another innigs or player. tomorrow if nazir scores a big one, then will we criticize farhat the same way?
back to yonis, the guy is not a match winner as yet althou he did have a century earlier n hopefully that'll change his game but in general he has been a consistent 25-40 run an innings kind of a player in his career. this is gd consistency in a team as mercurial as us. SL had gurusinha whose average was even less then yonis n he was an imp member of the side because he would stable a ship n be the anchor n hold his wicket.
now we have malik n hopefully he can play like this for us. if he does he obv. will make a better #3 and yonis can come down. also, whats wrong about jumping in joy after a century?? poor fellow had to wait a long while for that to happen.
In fact I was one of the first people to champion Malik in this forum and have always backed him as a player. Unlike Younis, he can single-handedly win a game as he showed today making him worth a place in his own right. Younis Khan cannot deliver the goods unless he has a partner at the other end doing all the lion's share of the work. Once they are gone his failure to finish the job is guaranteed unless he's playing Hong Kong. In which case he'll take them apart.
we all know he is not a match winner, atleast not at this point n he has had few match winning efforts in his career. he’s generally alwayz been the supporting type. bottomline is that he is NOT AS BAD as this forum makes him out to be. n he’s a gd stable bat who can bring some continuity to a pak innings. he also has a gd temprament n i think he can be a potential match winner under woolmer n co.
i’m not saying he is our best option. esp now since malik is establishing himself. hopefully he’ll be consistent coz with paki crisket one never knows. but yonis was basically in the team as a one down player. if malik plays gd continuosly then we can try other batters in place of younis - guyz like kamal, mizbah, bin nasir, faisal, bazid, raza, the list goes on n on.
more imp thing is opening. i think we shd give up on nazir. he’s been with the team for 5 yrs n hasnt established himself. i’d even give up on farhat. mayb bring bak naved latif but i dunno much abt him. i’m sure domestic cricket will have atleast one solid, reliable opening player! or any of the above ones can open coz all of them r massively talented they just need the rite guidance. it will be nice to have some healthy competition within our batting ranks.
Wrt Younis batting at no 3 I initially agreed with that view until I read Woolmer's reasons for sending Malik up the order and this is what I said yesterday (before today's match)
[QUOTE] Originally posted by Mr Xtreme: *
**Interesting view of trying to establish Malik as a specialist no 3 to accomodate an extra bowler in the future. That would make sense assuming he is up to the job and i think he probably is. He is capable of hitting over the close fielders so his limited stroke range wouldn't be a handicap.*
[/QUOTE]
So I think all credit goes to Woolmer for pulling off a master stroke here. I think Younis would have trouble getting it off the square with a close in-field and at no 6 he just doesn't have the power to provide impetus at the end of an innings. My view is that Asim Kamal could do a better and more commanding job than Younis if given a chance. What sort of batsman is worth less to his team as a specialist bat than two all rounders like Razzaq and Malik?
