The ‘Younis Khan’ Dilemma for Pakistan!

Younis Khan seems to be going through one of the worst phases of his cricketing life. He faced the wrath of the top Pakistani politicians after his team lost unexpectedly to an unsung New Zealand in the Champions Trophy. Add to that his dismal batting performances in the recent past have put Younis Khan’s career in a turmoil. Nobody perhaps would have imagined that Pakistan with all its talent in batting and fielding would lose 1-2 against New Zealand on flat pitches at Abu Dhabi!
As Coach Intikhab Alam rightly put in an interview to Tony Greig during the start of the 3-ODI Series that if Pakistan loses a game, people bring up allegations of match fixing and if Pakistan wins a game, some other people will bring up allegations of ball tampering like what happened after their win in the T20 World Cup. Such is the amount of pressure that the present Pakistan Captain Younis Khan and his team is facing. With Shahid Afridi performing in most matches, if not with the bat than with the ball, question marks have already started on the place of Younis Khan not only as a Captain but also in the playing XI!
Younis Khan has flopped thrice with the bat in Abu Dhabi. In the first ODI, he played a loose drive to an outswinger, in the second ODI, the Skipper had a scratchy stay which did a lot of harm than good for his team’s fortunes. In yesterday’s third ODI, Younis indirectly helped New Zealand to come back in the match out of nowhere by running out a good looking Salman Butt. So upset was Salman Butt that he did not remove his pads even after an hour or so after his dismissal! The amount of pressure that Younis had succumbed was very evident yesterday evening when he patted one straight to Guptill at covers and took off blindly for a suicidal run, only difference was that Salman Butt was the lamb because of his moment of madness. The Pakistani Captain didn’t make any amends for running out a well set batsman as he himself fell in the next ball giving catching practice to first slip! Younis probably should have demoted himself in the middle order rather than trying to find form in the centre at an important position of no.3.
Off the field as well, Younis has had a terrible series with his decisions like – dropping Shoaib Malik in the 1st ODI, dropping the current best batsman of the Pakistan team – Umar Akmal in the 2nd ODI and in the 3rd ODI dropping a senior pro Mohammad Yousuf! Younis is also not getting the team combination right, there is absolutely no need for Pakistan to have two conventional opening batsmen in Khalid Latif and Salman Butt on flat batting tracks! Had Younis not been the Captain, he would not have found a place in the playing XI if one goes by his current form!
There will be more pressure on Younis Khan should Shahid Afridi lead Pakistan to grand victories in the two T20Is at Dubai. Afridi seems to be at his peak of performance although it may not be with the bat on a consistent basis but with the ball he is certainly looking very dangerous. His energy seems to be rubbing off to the other players as well. On the other hand, Younis is just too low in confidence and needs that one big knock that can get him back to his normal self.
Age is running out as well for Younis Khan and it’s difficult for anyone to analyse how much of cricket is left in him. Ironically the PCB wants him to Captain Pakistan till the 2011 World Cup which certainly looks very far away from today. Why its difficult to see if Younis has much cricket in him or not is because he stated that he was 34 years of age and too old for the T20 kind of cricket a few months back. Now the thing is that his age is given as 31 years according to many official cricket records! It probably is better to take Younis Khan’s version of his age and its looking difficult to visualise him to last till the 2011 World Cup if his poor form continues this way.
The Pakistan Cricket Board needs to give Younis Khan the support if they want him to lead till 2011. There are going to be tougher times ahead for Younis as he leads the team in the Test Series against New Zealand and Australia where the Pakistani batsmen including him could really struggle to get the big runs. Patience will be the key here for the PCB and all the Pakistan fans. They should appreciate that their team is competing in a decent manner despite their minds and hearts being with their family members and fellow countrymen who are facing the worst phase of terrorism in the world in their daily lives!