Pak cricket: A chance for Mohammad Yousuf to redeem himself
Over the years, Pakistan cricket has produced some quality batsman that world has ever seen. Pakistan has produced the likes of Inzamam, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Javed-Miandad-c66580, Saeed Anwar and Hanif Mohammad in the past. In the modern era, there is no better batsman than Mohammad
Yousuf in Pakistan.
Mohammad Yousuf is regarded by many as one of the best batsman Pakistan has produced. He is mainly a front-foot player, as he has been brought up in the sub-continent on low slow wickets. He is pleasing on the eyes, closely watches the ball onto the bat.
Yousuf is a nervous starter, as his feet get stuck in the crease early on in the innings, and therefore, is a candidate for the leg before wicket. As his innings progresses, his feet start to move nicely, and then nobody moves his feet better than Mohammad
Yousuf does. The cover drive and the inside out shot over midwicket are his trademark shots. There are only few Pakistani batsmen who have been prolific as Mohammad Yousuf.
He has a big appetite to score runs. It was seen in the year of 2006, where he surpassed Sir Vivian Richard’s 30-year-old record of most number of runs and centuries, by an individual player, in a calendar year. He scored 1788 runs in the year of 2006, at
an average of 99, with 9 hundreds.
The master batsman is country’s 3rd highest run-getter in Test cricket. In 90 matches he has played, he has scored 7530 runs at an average of 52 with the best of 223. He is country’s 2nd highest century maker. His tally of 24 centuries
includes 4 double hundreds. He has blossomed in the shorter format of the game as well.
In ODI cricket, only Inzamam has more runs for the Pakistan. Yousuf has 9717 runs to his name, at an average of 42 with the best of 141. He has 16 hundreds in ODIs, and is 2nd only to Saeed Anwar’s tally of 20 centuries. There is no doubting his
credentials as an excellent batsman. The biggest criticism that he has faced in his brilliant career is his inability to perform against quality attacks.
South Africa is considered by many as the best test side in the world. Over the years, they have housed great fast bowlers. They had the likes of Shaun Pollock, Allan Donald, Fannie Devilliers, and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Morne-Morkel-c77722
and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dale-c52110 Styen, and it is considered by many as the leading fast bowling combination in world.
Yousuf has struggled to produce his best against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 even though tracks in South Africa have more pace and bounce than any other country. He has featured in 7 test matches against them. In these 7 matches, he scored 357 runs at a modest average
of 29.75, with the best of 83.
Yousuf has played 5 matches in South Africa and has scored 261 runs at a poor average of 26, with the best of 83. At home, Yousuf has only played 2 matches, and has scored 96 runs at an average of 48, with the best of 63.
In ODIs he has pretty decent record against South Africa. In 33 outings against them, he has gathered 1113 runs at a decent average of 36 with the best of 117. His tally of runs includes 2 centuries.
Pakistan will be playing against South Africa in October in U.A.E. The conditions are somewhat similar to Pakistan grounds. The wickets are low and slow, and these conditions will suit Pakistanteam.
Yousuf remains an integral part of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s batting plan against South Africa. No one knows about the future of Younis Khan. Younis has been sidelined by the PCB chairman due to internal politics. In the absence of Younis Khan the burden of batting line
remains on Yousuf’s shoulder.
This is a big chance for Yousuf to prove his mettle against South Africa. If he does than Pakistan do stand a chance against the Mighty South Africans.
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