Are we having this discussion now? You know, where we attempt to rank Younis Khan among Pakistan’s finest batsmen?
These discussions are incredibly frustrating by nature, like an itch that never goes, but they are also irresistible, right?
So put the numbers out there first. His hundred on Wednesday against Australia was his 25th in Tests, placing him alongside Inzamam-ul-Haq as the Pakistani with most tons. It also made him the first Pakistani to have scored a hundred against every Test-playing nation.
Read more: Younis Khan ‘proud to be first Pakistani’ to score centuries against all Test nations
Only Javed Miandad and Inzamam have more Test runs; among his countrymen he has the third-highest average of all time.
Away from Pakistan, where he has played only 19 Tests, and also his default home of the UAE, he averages 50.
In short, he does not lose out in comparison with any of Pakistan’s greatest.
Some will argue he is not as decisive a game-changer as Inzamam, an assessment backed by the statisticians at Impact Index who say that Inzamam is the highest-impact Asian batsman of all time.
He is not as versatile as Miandad, others might say, a man who was a genius over 50 overs. Younis, whatever he may think, has never quite convinced in ODIs.
Aesthetically he is no Mohammad Yousuf, a man in whom the richest traditions of beautiful Asian batsmanship burnt bright. Younis is no ugly grafter, but he is no peacock either. An idiosyncratic, fidgety style might be the polite way of putting it.
Hanif Mohammad’s numbers may look ordinary now, but none of Pakistan’s best had to bat with such poverty around him.
Except maybe Younis – especially since Inzamam and Yousuf, with whom he formed such a formidable trio, left the scene.
It is in this time, the era of Misbah-ul-Haq that Younis has pushed himself right up in that conversation and made it into an era of his own.
Has anyone brought as great a sense of security and comfort as Younis to this flimsiest batting order? It is difficult to remember one who has had to nurture as many young batsmen around him, or who has figured in as many critical partnerships.
There is something more there, right? Some heart, an inner struggle that maybe puts him beyond all of them.
Miandad loved fighting. Sometimes he loved it too much, and the idea that he could engineer a fight spurred him on.
Younis goes about it differently, but the same forces switch him on and, unlike Miandad, he does not have fighters alongside him.
He wants to fight. Winning the fight may not be as important and he may not win all, but fronting up for it and not hiding lower down the order, or avoiding a tough attack or surface, is what is important.
Coming in at seven for two, as he did in the morning, is what gets him going; that cannot be said of too many Pakistani batsmen.
He let slip as much later, speaking about that first session when he barely scored any runs with genuine glee and relish. The Australians were coming in hard at him. Michael Clarke was throwing up all kinds of challenges. Pakistan were in a mess.
And Younis loved it, which maybe, just maybe, leaves him in a league of his own.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
Follow our sports coverage on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 390bhp
Torque: 400Nm
Price: Dh340,000 ($92,579
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday Celta Vigo v Villarreal (midnight kick-off UAE)
Saturday Sevilla v Real Sociedad (4pm), Atletico Madrid v Athletic Bilbao (7.15pm), Granada v Barcelona (9.30pm), Osasuna v Real Madrid (midnight)
Sunday Levante v Eibar (4pm), Cadiz v Alaves (7.15pm), Elche v Getafe (9.30pm), Real Valladolid v Valencia (midnight)
Monday Huesca v Real Betis (midnight)
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Dhadak
Director: Shashank Khaitan
Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana
Stars: 3
The past winners
2009 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
2010 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
2011 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
2012 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)
2013 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
2014 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2015 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
2016 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2017 - Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
