Think of Pakistan’s achievements, and most of them will come through individuals’ brilliance rather than Pakistani systems delivering exceptional output. Despite the dysfunctional manner of the country’s operations, brilliant individuals somehow keep it going. Not greedy for recognition, there are thousands of such individuals present who slug it out every day against the tide.
Our society also lacks the mentoring system. So as young adults, we look up to cousins, and family friends who have been through the struggles of life recently and seek their wisdom. In cricket, we find the gali ka mashoor cricketer who couldn’t make the grade, mentoring the talented kid with passion. One of the top Pakistani sport writers Mr Osman Samiuddin describes such individuals’ work towards players as jazba for the country and the game. Pakistan is playing the 2ndTest against Sri Lanka, and one such individual is about to play his 100th test match.
Younis Khan, Pakistan’s unfashionable savior time and again, will have his moment in the spotlight. Perhaps he will not enjoy it as much. He doesn’t possess the street swagger of Javed Miandad, nor does he have the elegance of Zaheer Abbas. To the rating hungry media his CV misses that one pivotal selling point such as Inzimam’s 92 Semi-final performance, or the awe-inspiring grace of Mohammad Yosuf’s cover drive. However, Younis Khan’s career greater is than the sum of its parts. He has proven his batting mettle by scoring one century after another when the opening of Pakistani batting line collapses. Cricinfo has published a detailed statistical analysis on Khan’s performance on the occasion of his 100th test. He compares Khan to Lara, Tendulkar and Hayden.
However, much like the Dark Knight, Khan prefers to stay away from the limelight.
As he says in his interviews, he likes the calmness of the sea, he likes to absorb nature like he absorbs pressure every time he puts on the Pakistan cap.
If one looks at his rather brief but extremely eventful captaincy tenure, you could see Younis was trying to bring in young talented players. Umer Akmal and the young prodigy Mohammad Amir debuted in his captaincy, Saeed Ajmal’s rise was under him.
Similarly, Fawad Alam tells a story of his Test debut. All his life he had played in the middle order with a technique considered ill equipped to opening. Younis pushed Fawad to practise with a new ball and threw him in the deep end. The team struggled with a score of 90 all out in the 1st innings, Fawad made a gritty 19. Whilst Fawad was gridding it out in the middle, Younis had got out and returned to the pavilion. On a half taped ball, with a marker he wrote ‘Fawad debut 100’. A sign, a faith- placed by the captain in his young solider, which Fawad duly fulfilled in the 2nd innings of the Test. Similar stories can be picked up from the numerous and often match winning partnerships Younis has had with Kamran Akmal, Salman Butt, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and Ahmad Shehzad.
On the eve of his 100th test, he was asked which Pakistani batsmen in the current line-up he rates the highest. Asad Shafiq and Anwar Ali, according to him he thinks would outdo, his record. “They can perform better than me”, claimed the gentleman from Mardan. His response defines Younis as an individual- modesty personified. Trying to absorb pressure away from the youngsters and delivering consistently with humility. If you look back, Pakistan cricket is full of events where insecurities in superstars lead to disastrous performances. Every other cricketer considers himself better than his captain and therefore, did all he could to become the captain. Younis is one clear exception. Two extremely successful and long captaincy tenure were built around Younis’ runs and support i.e. Inzimam and Misbah. I wonder what would have happened had Younis been allowed to stay captain for a longer period of time. The petty politics and personal egos probably robbed Pakistan of a selfless leader. If you are looking for a role model, look no further: Younis Khan is the man, the system and the mentor.
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