“Had I been captain maybe I wouldn’t have scored all these runs”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Looking back on his illustrious career, Pakistan batsman Younis Khan insisted that wherever he played and in whatever format, he always “gave 200%”.
Younis retired from the sport following the recently concluded three-Test series against the West Indies, which Pakistan won 2-1.
Having etched his name in the record books on numerous occasions, Younis is arguably the best batsman Pakistan has ever produced since he is the only player from the country to have scored 10,000 runs in Test cricket.
“All the cricket I’ve played – for club, department, association, county, in Australia, wherever – when I’m gone if you ask any of them, they won’t be able to say that Younis Khan left something in the tank. I gave 200% everywhere I played,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “Two-three years ago, I was about to retire but I got the motivation to try and get to 10,000 runs.
“As a captain, player, junior, senior, I put it all out there, whatever I had. Whatever I could, with bat, ball, in the field. No regrets either. We won a world title, we beat Australia, leveled a series in England. We performed, I performed so there’s nothing left that I really wanted to do.”
Younis also made it clear that he has no regrets over his decision to resign as captain in 2009. The reason behind this is the fact that the 39-year-old questions whether he would have been able to finish his career with over 10,000 Test runs and 7,000 ODI runs if he had kept hold of the leadership role.
But, in the time that he did captain his country, Younis did achieve something that has not been matched to this day as he led his side to World Twenty20 glory in 2009.
“People say to me, you should’ve done more captaincy,” he said. “But I think whatever happens, happens for the best. Had I been captain maybe I wouldn’t have scored all these runs.
“People think that maybe I carry these regrets, but no. Had I done more, who knows whether I would be where I am today? If I had been captain for so long, maybe I would’ve been too distracted by other duties to score as many runs as I did.”
Back in 2009, Younis expressed his desire to set up a players’ association, which is something that Pakistan has never had.
However, when asked whether he plans to revisit the thought now that he has retired, Younis admitted that it is not on his agenda for the time being.
“Believe me – I think, in all, I’ve given 27-28 years of my life to cricket,” he said. “So I have nothing in my mind about any future plans to get back into cricket. I don’t know if I’ll have any energy left after I leave to give to cricket.
“A players’ association should happen for sure, but I don’t think I have the energy to be able to do something like this. We should do this, and if others start it up, then I will stand by them for sure.”
But, what does the foreseeable future hold for Younis? According to the Mardan native, he plans to do a lot of fishing.
“A lot of the dreams I had which I couldn’t get to while I was playing, I will now pursue,” he added. “People think you achieve all of them in your career but actually this is a new career starting for me now.”