Does Younis Khan deserve to be in the ODI team?

This article has spent a long time in the making. I started writing it just before the England series. I waited till the series concluded as my conclusions and the statistics had changed somewhat.

Now that Younis Khan has been made the captain of the Pakistan team for the Champions Trophy (for the second time), it is an appropriate time to finish this article. Younis Khan is in the news, so I though I should ask some more questions about him.

TESTS

As we are on the same page, I am going to say it right off the bat. Younis is a sure-shot selection for the test team with an average touching 50, including 12 centuries and 15 50's. That number of centuries, 12 certainly does not do justive to his penchant for big runs, so I shall break it down even farther. He has 5 150+ scores:

153 - WI in UAE 2001/02 at Sharjah
267 - 3rd Test v Ind in Ind 2004/05 at Bangalore
199 - 1st Test v Ind in Pak 2005/06 at Lahore
194 - 2nd Test v Ind in Pak 2005/06 at Faisalabad
173 - 3rd Test v Eng in Eng 2006 at Leeds

2 additional centuries almost made it on this list (149* and 147).

Interestingly the 149* was a 2nd innings score against New Zealand with Moin Khan declaring before Younis reached the next milestone. We won the game by 299 runs however...

The conclusion:

Younis Khan is undoubtedly one of the best one down test batsman currently playing today. He is in sublime form. 4 of the big scores above 150+ runs have come in the last two years. In fact, In 8 test matches in the 2006 calendar year, his test average is 61.64, with 3 centuries and 4 50's. He is ranked 4th in the world in tests.

Prior to this sudden PCB crisis, Younis was and had been marked to take over captaincy from Inzamam, probably soon after the 2007 world cup. I like the guy, I think he's inspiring and is a good leader. On account of all these things, plus his stellar batting and seniority in the team, he will make a great Test captain.

Osman Samiuddin writes...

For some time now, Younis Khan has been regarded, unofficially, as the heir apparent. In an interview with Wisden Asia Cricket after the 2003 World Cup, Rashid Latif earmarked Younis, off the record, as the man he was to groom as his successor. And in an interview with Cricinfo in November, Shaharyar Khan was also complimentary about his leadership skills, and Imran Khan has since publicly backed him as captain. Rahul Dravid, who seems as good a judge of character as any, is reportedly very impressed by him.

But..

ODI's

One day international's are a completely different story however. It's been long thought that Younis has the Sehwag virus. Sehwag's test average is 52.12 while his ODI average is 31.75.

Does Younis share the same curse?

....well. Yeah!

After 130 ODI innings prior to the England series, Younis had 1 century to his name and 24 half-centuries with an average of 31.72.

That century, incidently came against mighty Hong Kong at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground during the Asia Cup 2004. Interestingly Younis didn't even win the Man of the Match for that game! Shoaib Malik got it for his 4 wickets plus his own century.

A breakdown of his games against opponents doesn't really show much to support him. The table speaks for itself.
Younis has often said that he has played for the team. I do not have the will power to go through every one of those ODI games and figure out what the circumstances were but I don't know if I can give him the benefit of doubt. I just don't think he has what it takes to play ODI's. He says feels most comfortable at the one down position. Lets look at that then.

Looking at the table above, I don't know if "the batting for the team" argument can go so far. If one is a specialist batsman in an ODI team, then one must deliver at some point and maintain consistency. He has had 35 innings at the one down position, a position with a lot of responsiblity. A position that he enjoys and one that he wants. Yet he has definitely not done so well over the past 7 years.

Is it the pressure perhaps? Maybe he was brought in too early in the innings, or too late? I checked Ricky Ponting's record. It has a similar distribution of innings per position. Over the course of a career, we can assume the perssure situation for these two players is similar.

But here is the important graph.
In 2006, he averages 47.92.

So perhaps he has finally found his groove?

Come to your own conclusions about how Younis Khan has been handled. His best year has certainly been this one. I remember being shocked when he became the vice-captain. I didn't know a thing about him then, but his ODI record certainly didn't impress me. I knew he barely made it into the test team then. Even while scouring through cricinfo's articles referring to him, I found a lot of talk about his test batting, but not much commentary about his ODI batting. I am sure there is a list on cricinfo comparing test and odi batting averages amongst current players. I didn't find it though.

Anyway, his ODI record, without a doubt, is dismal record for player who is so talented and has the capability to deliver. The PCB has stuck with him all this time for ODI's and I suppose I will too. His 2006 average and his performances compared to everyone else, certainly does indicate that he has found his niche in the batting order and as a vice-captain.

After all the drama that he's been involved in, all eyes will certainly be on him this Champion's Trophy.

Thanks to Howstat for the graphs. And cricinfo for the images.