Younis Khan’s long and at times puzzling pursuit of a place in Pakistan’s ODI set-up may have been given renewed impetus with selection for the series against England. But it turns out he is only looking for the right moment to bring closure to a career in a format which, brief periods apart, has never matched the stellar standards of his Test record.
Younis was selected for the ODI squad last week for the first time since the 2015 World Cup. His meager returns there, on the back of an indifferent period in any case, were thought to have ended a 264-match career.
Pakistan said they were moving on, under a new captain. But with results since not hugely impressive, Younis has publicly questioned his continued exclusion from the ODI side.
Given his standing and Test form, selectors have found it impossible to ignore him. In any case, it may not be a long-term development.
“I can leave at anytime,” Younis told The National on Monday. “I am trying to – whenever I feel is right – leave on my own terms and conditions. At the age I am at, I have to decide very quickly what I want to do.
“If you look at my career, a player like myself, he should leave the game with honour. Like I left Twenty20 (after winning the 2009 World Twenty20) that was really appreciated. When you are at the top and you retire, you leave a legacy behind.”
He has been, he revealed, searching for the right moment to go since the 2011 World Cup. That tournament marked the last time he was a fixture in the side.
Since then, he has played in 43 of Pakistan’s 109 ODIs, with none too impressive figures: he averages 27 and has just the single hundred (that is his only ODI hundred since 2008).
He had thought about retiring then, but he wanted to have a couple of good series before he left. After being recalled to the ODI squad against New Zealand last year he again thought about leaving at the end of that series.
But the prospect of being perceived to have “(run) away from a World Cup in difficult conditions” in Australia compelled him to stay on.
“I thought if the stage was right at the World Cup, if I was playing, then I would retire. But I didn’t get that opportunity. Now, since then I’ve been pushing myself again, I’ve been pushing selectors again. I’m really happy I have an opportunity. I want to come now and at my own moment of choosing, retire.”
In the cold, unforgiving light of numbers, his is an ODI batting never truly found full expression. Younis argues those figures are also misleading, not revealing the context of many of his lower scores made at the death of an innings, in search for runs.
“If my average is 31-32, then check that whenever Younis Khan has made 70, what were the conditions, how many overs were left, how did he get out? If a player like myself, who has a better technique, if he plays 50 overs then don’t you think if he was playing for himself and not the team he could’ve scored 100?”
He insists that there is still room in the modern ODI for a batsman like him, “around whom an innings can be built”. But he is not long for the format, conceding that there is no chance he plays until the 2019 World Cup.
Instead, a prolific series or two and he may be gone.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
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