the following year. Younus finally made his mark on the
international scene during Pakistan’s tour of India in
2005. He was under serious pressure to score after the
first Test match, during which he scored nine runs and
one run. Following that, he scored a remarkable 147 in
the next Test and finally, during the final Test match, with
the series levelled at 1-1, he scored a brilliant 267, an
inning that lasted for 11 hours and 30 minutes. During
the second innings of the final Test, he fired 84 runs, not
out in the second innings to help Pakistan win a memorable series in India. In 2005, he scored a century against
West Indies on their turf, a place where he always
seemed to struggle. In 2006, during India’s tour of Pakistan, he scored 199 and 194 in the first two Test matches and captained the team during the final Test match at
Karachi, leading them to a memorable series victory.
Another brilliant inning of 173 against England at Leeds
the same year cemented his credentials as one of the
most important batsmen of Pakistan. Younus kept his
form intact when he scored two consecutive centuries
against South Africa in 2007 and also scored another
century against India at Kolkata. He was named the captain of the Pakistani cricket team in 2009 during which
he played his most memorable inning of 313, which is
the third highest score by a Pakistani batsman in Test
cricket. Although he fared well as a captain, especially in
the shorter format, where he won the T20 World Cup for
Pakistan, he could not stay at the post for long and after
having several disagreements with the players and
management, he stepped down from his captaincy and
did not play for Pakistan for around one and a half year.
In October 2010, when Misbahul Haq was named the
captain of Pakistan, Younus was reinstated into the team
and he made his presence felt by scoring a match-saving 131 not out after batting the whole day at the Dubai
Cricket Stadium against a challenging South African attack. Free from captaincy worries, Younus started leading the team from the front as a senior batsman. Highlights of his career were when he helped Pakistan save
the Sharjah Test match against Sri Lanka with his 122, a
gritting match-winning century against England in Dubai,
enabling Pakistan to whitewash the opposition, a matchwinning double ton against Bangladesh in December
2011 and Zimbabwe in 2013, and scoring 111 against
South Africa at Cape Town where Pakistan nearly won
the match. Younus made his presence felt. Perhaps the
world started noticing the greatness of Younus in 2014
when he, while trying to prove that he can still be part of
Pakistan’s limited-over squad for the World Cup, scored
quick fired centuries in bo [