Younis Khan Mohammad

Overview

Mohammad Younis Khan

NOMINEE 2021

Born: November 29, 1977 in Mardan, Pakistan.

Younis Khan is a Pakistani professional cricket coach and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team in all three formats of the game.

His masterful stroke-playing abilities and his ability to remain focused coupled with his composure and resistance made him an outstanding batsman.

His able to consistently convert his starts into huge scores made him very famous. He was a very controversial player.

Younis Khan started playing in the domestic circuit for the United Bank Limited in the 1998/99.

Khan made his National ODI debut in February 2000 against Sri Lanka.

On his Test debut, Younis Khan scored a century against Sri Lanka again.

In October 2004 he started to make his mark on the international stage as a consistent performer.

In the Pakistan Australia series they were whitewashed by Australia 3-0, Younis Khan emerged as the top run-getter for his team. He was promoted to the vice-captain role in the Pakistan National setup.

He scored a double century against India.

However, this period in life where he was becoming successful in the cricketing world, he had some major setbacks in his personal life. Younis' father died in 2005 and as a result, he had to fly back from Australia. That was followed by the death of his eldest brother in 2006, Mohammed Sharif Khan, who in Younis' words, taught him to play cricket.

In January 2007, he scored a match-winning unbeaten 67 in the 4th innings to guide Pakistan to victory over South Africa in Port Elizabeth.

Younis Khan became the fastest Pakistani in terms of innings to reach 4000 Test runs, behind Javed Miandad.

For his performances in 2008, he was named in the World ODI XI by the ICC.

In 2005, Younis Khan first skippered the Pakistan ODI team in the third ODI of the series against West Indies, where they won and clinched the series 3-0.

After that, Younis Khan was offered the role of captaincy but he turned down the opportunity. Finally, in 2009, he accepted the leadership role and great success came along with it. Younis Khan scored 313 runs as captain, the highest individual score by a Pakistan skipper till date, thereby helping his team save the match.

He resigned as captain when he was accused of match fixing. Those allegations were proved false and after requests from the PCB, Younis Khan resumed his duties as captain.

Younis Khan led Pakistan to their victory in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, which is a big feather in his cap.

He scored an unbeaten double-hundred against Zimbabwe in 2013.

In 2015, Younis Khan played his 101st Test match against Sri Lanka and scored an unbeaten 171 in the fourth innings of the game.

For his performances in 2015, he was named in the World Test XI by the ICC. He finally called it a day on his playing career as he retired from all forms of international cricket at the conclusion of the series against the West Indies in May 2017.

He is the first Pakistani to score 10000-plus runs in Test cricket and his 34 centuries are the highest number of Test centuries by a Pakistani. Numerous records fell in his way on the road in an illustrious career and he will be always remembered for his contribution for the Pakistan National Team.