Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan broke legendary Sir Don Bradman’s record of converting 90s into hundred for the 30th time, at the Oval on Saturday. He scored a magnificent double hundred to take Pakistan into a commanding position. Khan also scored his 32nd century and is Pakistan’s leading run scorer in Test cricket.
The 38-year-old batsman converted a score of 90-plus into a hundred for the 30th time in succession. Bradman converted 29 ninety-plus scores into hundred before him. Younis was last dismissed in the 90’s in 2001 against New Zealand at Auckland.
The veteran has been dismissed in nervous nineties only one time during his illustrious career. Only Bradman holds the record for never being dismissed in the 90s.
Younis came into the match struggling for runs. He had an average series by his lofty standards and scored 31, 4, 1, 28, 33, and 25 in the past six innings on this England tour. The knock at the Oval more than made up for it by scoring 218 runs. This was younis’ fourth hundred against England. Mohammad Yousuf had scored six while Saleem Malik had scored four hundreds.
He now has 39 international hundreds across all formats. He has scored seven ODI hundreds and joins Mohammad Yousuf as the leading century maker for Pakistan. This was the 15th hundred Younis has scored away from home. Inzamam-ul-Haq had scored 13. He is 10th in the all time list.
The Pakistan batting mainstay is now in the 10th position when it comes to Test hundreds. Sachin Tendulkar leads the way with 51 Test hundreds followed by Jaques Kallis (45) and Ricky Ponting (41) Test tons.
Pakistan are trailing in the series and have to win the match to level the series. If England win or draw this match they will hold all the trophies against all the Test playing countries.
Scoring runs when the team needed it badly once again came to the fore for the batsman. His double ton could go a long way in securing a victory for Pakistan and helping them to level the series.