Younis Khan set to join Surrey
Discarded former Pakistan captain Younis Khan currently fighting a legal battle with the Pakistan cricket board, over the indefinite suspension imposed on him has decided to return to the cricket field for English county Surrey. The right handed top order batsman who led Pakistan to the T-20 World Championship title in England last year, was handed an indefinite ban by the Pakistan Cricket Board, on charges of creating disunity and disharmony in the national team during the tour of Australia where the team lost all international matches.
Younis who was the captain of Pakistan till the tour of UAE last year, has remained the corner stone of Pakistan’s batting in the last few years scoring over 5000 test runs in 63 appearances with 16 hundreds. The dashing Pathan scored a magnificent triple hundred in the first test against the Sri Lankans at the national stadium in Karachi, becoming only the third Pakistani to amass a score in excess of 300 in a test match. Younis also has had stints with Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire counties; understandably the coach of the Surrey team Chris Adams was elated to have secured the services of Younis for the 2010 county season
“ I am confident that bringing a world class player such as Younis Khan will have a positive affect on the side, as well as benefiting from the weight of runs we hope he will bring, we have a number of young batsmen who will doubtless benefit greatly from being able to train and play alongside”.
“In terms of twenty 20 cricket, the experience and skill that saw him lead Pakistan to the 2009 T-20 World title are sure to greatly help us in pursuit of our title”.
The Surrey county staff also in talks with legendary West Indian batsman Brian Lara attempted to woo the great out of retirement but the talks with the world record holder for the highest individual test and first class score failed.
Despite losing out on Lara, Surrey is hopeful of utilising the maximum out of Younis Khan’s potential, as the Mardan born batsman vows to win back a place in Pakistan’s test team and fight his way through the indefinite suspension imposed.
A source close to the batsman confirmed that Younis had finalised the deal with the county, and was targeting a successful season that can inspire the county to first class, T-20 and other limited over titles.
However the Surrey authorities would have to guard against Younis’s temper, the right handed batsman has already pulled out thrice from captaincy of the Pakistan team hinting that he was not comfortable with the contribution of senior players in the team that conspired to undermine his strength.
He also had an angry outburst at a fan during a match of a club tournament organised by former Pakistan wicket keeper Rashid Latif a few months ago.
His temper aside the 32 year old has been a great player for Pakistan cricket and his skill and ability would be crucial to his team’s chances if he wins back a place in the national team for the demanding tour of England where Pakistan plays Australia and England in a total of six test matches this summer.
For the time being his focus would be on doing his best for Surrey, a county that has bore fruits of the services of two of the greatest bowlers to have played for Pakistan, Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mushtaq.
The two led the county to championship wins, in different seasons during the last two decades or so, and now the county anticipates another major contribution from a Pakistani, let’s see if Younis Khan can keep up the tradition.
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