By IANS,
Karachi : Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad believes Younis Khan’s match-saving 313 against Sri Lanka in the first Test is the batsman’s best knock yet.
Miandad, who is Pakistan’s highest run-getter in Tests with 8832 runs from 124 matches, said Younis’s marathon innings under pressure brought Pakistan back from the jaws of defeat.
“I believe this is his (Younis) best knock so far,” Miandad said in an interview to Geo Sports channel.
“He and his team was under a lot of pressure after Sri Lanka scored 644 in the first innings. But the way Younis batted is really commenadable.
“It seems that captaincy has not affected his performance as a batsman,” he added referring to the fact that the Karachi Test is Younis’ first match after being given the Pakistan captaincy last month.
Miandad pointed out that despite the flat track of the National Stadium it wasn’t easy to score runs against Muttiah Muralitharan, the highest wicket-taker in Test and one-day cricket. “Sri Lanka’s bowling attack is very good which makes Younis’ knock more special.”
Miandad also played down the criticism of Pakistani curators for making a lifeless wicket. “It’s the sort of wicket that you always get here. You cannot make bouncy pitches here like they have in Australia because of the nature of the soil,” he said.
Miandad pointed out that Pakistan had won more matches on flat wickets than greentops.
“Tell me how many matches Pakistan have won on green wickets. When Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis used to play, we won matches because of their reverse swing on such dry wicket.”