My faith in Pakistan chasing any second innings total didn't last long. In 1982, I ventured to Edgbaston expecting Imran Khan's team would score around 300 to beat England. I was filled with the optimism of youth. Looking back, almost any target would have troubled Pakistan. The day turned out to be a rapid and mostly cavalier failure.
I'm not sure I've ever recovered. Whenever Pakistan bat in the final innings of a Test match, whether to win or save the match, I expect the worst and desperately look for signs that any success is a turning point.

Younis Khan's team can't have found it easy to switch from the glamour of the Twenty20 World Cup to a gruelling Test series in Sri Lanka. But against all expectations they found themselves in a match-winning position. It was a position that they should have turned comfortably to victory.

Younis bemoaned a lack of steel and application among his senior players, echoes of his early complaints in the Twenty20 World Cup. He has a point. Pakistan's senior batsmen have historically struggled to summon sufficient mental fortitude to finish off a golden opportunity like the one presented to them at Galle.

This is why Javed Miandad and Inzamam-ul Haq - and to some degree Imran Khan - were such special batsmen for Pakistan. They were able to weigh anchor and force their less stable fellows to cling on to them. It is an attribute that Younis aspires to but hasn't consistently mastered. Shoaib Malik is even less familiar with such heroics.

But Pakistan's biggest worry is that this skill that has almost entirely escaped their heaviest run scorer. Mohammad Yousuf has continued almost exactly where he left off, with a fairytale first-innings hundred and a disappointment when it really mattered.

Don't get me wrong, Yousuf's return is a welcome triumph but Pakistan need him to play the decisive innings. These innings are hard to quantify but they are the ones that make the difference between defeat and failure. They mean more than averages and run-scoring records. These innings are the true path to greatness, a path that Mohammad Yousuf must tread.

Posted by Kamran Abbasi at 9:18 PM in Pakistan in Sri Lanka 2009
pak passion - cricinfo

this is why MoYo will never be a an Inzi or a Miandad no matter is he scores 100 centuries or scores 5000 runs in a year.
Even Younus Khan has scored more in crunch situations.

Yusuf is a great player, but dont know if hes a team player, i agree that the PCB has been unfair to him so many times, but with him trying to move to the ICL twice and back doenst help,

well maybe under yunis khan, he will get even better and maybe as a team pakistan can climb back up, but most o the things int eh article is right and deserves all the praises hes getting..

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everytime i see yousaf playing......i want him to score well for pakistan......but for him personally i really don't care.

JUST LOOK AT THE WAY MOYO RUN AWAY FROM THE LINE OF THROW TO SAVE HIM FROM A HIT FROM THE BALL THEN TO GET RUN OUT IN THE 1ST INNINGS.

I CAN NEVER LIKE SUCH A CRICKETER IN A MILLION YEARS.

This is ridiculous, why only singling out Yousuf- the guy who still turned out to be the top scorer despiet almost 2 year of exile? And those who are all of sudden in mood for some Miadand and Inzi worshipping, bear in mind if it wasn't for Yousuf's century in the first inning you would've been out of the match long ago!

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Those who matter, don't mind. Those who mind, don't matter...

Originally Posted by komal*

This is ridiculous, why only singling out Yousuf- the guy who still turned out to be the top scorer despiet almost 2 year of exile? And those who are all of sudden in mood for some Miadand and Inzi worshipping, bear in mind if it wasn't for Yousuf's century in the first inning you would've been out of the match long ago!

exactly, people normally tend to forget that first inning centurians actually put the team in a position where they could chase the target in the first place, when they fail in the seond innings, its all bad and things, but to me a first innings is as important as second innings ..

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Originally Posted by komal*

This is ridiculous, why only singling out Yousuf- the guy who still turned out to be the top scorer despiet almost 2 year of exile? And those who are all of sudden in mood for some Miadand and Inzi worshipping, bear in mind if it wasn't for Yousuf's century in the first inning you would've been out of the match long ago!

first of all if yousaf wasn't there in the 1st innings pak wouldn't be playing with 10 players.....someone would have played in his place.....how can you be sure than alam or iqbal would not have scored good?

the idea behind the article is that moyo never delivers when it matters.

Originally Posted by aazhar

first of all if yousaf wasn't there in the 1st innings pak wouldn't be playing with 10 players.....someone would have played in his place.....how can you be sure than alam or iqbal would not have scored good? the idea behind the article is that moyo never delivers when it matters.

they wouldnt, thats the point, hes picked because hes good, alam and iqbal were dropped because tey arent aas good as him, thats hte point,

one shouldnt single yousuf out, considering Pakistan has crap openers for years, its quite an achievement te way younis and yousuf are handling the middle order,

inzy, miandad bats at #4, yousuf bats at #3, roles are completely different, and even if yousuf fails in te seocnd innings, at #3 he has performed in the first innings where more often or not pakistan has lost wickets early...

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Originally Posted by SRK77

Yusuf is a great player, but dont know if hes a team player, i agree that the PCB has been unfair to him so many times, but with him trying to move to the ICL twice and back doenst help, well maybe under yunis khan, he will get even better and maybe as a team pakistan can climb back up, but most o the things int eh article is right and deserves all the praises hes getting..

Let just not make these kinds of claims, we played with 7 batsmen. Fine Yousuf flopped in the secong inning but what about captain's knock? Innings from that so over ratted Malik? Openers? So called Misbah the next Inzi? None of these players tried playing for their own survivals let alone playing for the team...

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Those who matter, don't mind. Those who mind, don't matter...

Originally Posted by komal*

Let just not make these kinds of claims, we played with 7 batsmen. Fine Yousuf flopped in the secong inning but what about captain's knock? Inningfrom so over ratted Malik? Openers? So called Misbah the next Inzi? None of thes epalyers tried playing for their own survivals let alone playing for the team...

you are right.........no one in their proper mind is saying to drop yousaf......thats insane.........malik and butt are the ones that could be dropped.

Originally Posted by aazhar

first of all if yousaf wasn't there in the 1st innings pak wouldn't be playing with 10 players.....someone would have played in his place.....how can you be sure than alam or iqbal would not have scored good?.

How can you be so sure that rookie Fawad and useless Iqbal would've scored a century? At least regarding Yousuf class and past records, you can make these kinds of safe guesses.

Quote:

the idea behind the article is that moyo never delivers when it matters

How about if we be more accurate and say this for the entire team

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Those who matter, don't mind. Those who mind, don't matter...

Originally Posted by komal*

Let just not make these kinds of claims, we played with 7 batsmen. Fine Yousuf flopped in the secong inning but what about captain's knock? Innings from so over ratted Malik? Openers? So called Misbah the next Inzi? None of these players tried playing for their own survivals let alone playing for the team...

i m not specifically talkin abt this game, i m talkin geneal, he wants to play under his own conditions, moved to ICL because he didnt get what he wanted, came back when younis was made captain, i mean theses are not team players, you play and fight as a team and this is somethin hes missing,

its not abotu his batting, up his team play, younis khan had probems with PCB, but alwyas put pakistan in the forefront, yousuf didnt to be honest...

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Originally Posted by aazhar

first of all if yousaf wasn't there in the 1st innings pak wouldn't be playing with 10 players.....someone would have played in his place.....how can you be sure than alam or iqbal would not have scored good? the idea behind the article is that moyo never delivers when it matters.

kya bachon wali mentality hai article likhne wale ki. Akela yousuf hi run banaye baaki kya parosi ki shaadi mein khaana khaane aaye hai. Off field woh jaisa bhi ho but on field itne time ke baad aana aur century marna tough conditions mein bachon ka kaam nahi hai. Every inning matters in test cricket. Agar first inning mein run na banaye hotey toh 3rd day pe hi haar jaate.

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Originally Posted by SRK77

i m not specifically talkin abt this game, i m talkin geneal, he wants to play under his own conditions, moved to ICL because he didnt get what he wanted, came back when younis was made captain, i mean theses are not team players, you play and fight as a team and this is somethin hes missing, its not abotu his batting, up his team play, younis khan had probems with PCB, but alwyas put pakistan in the forefront, yousuf didnt to be honest...

Oh please...please you don't start with that same old mantra of 'country first' and all those rosy metaphores. Sometimes you have to put yourself first, none of us know what excatly Malik or PCB did to Yousuf to make him go all mad. He committed suicide by joining ICL, and it takes a lot for someone go for that option.

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Those who matter, don't mind. Those who mind, don't matter...

Originally Posted by aazhar

this is why MoYo will never be a an Inzi or a Miandad no matter is he scores 100 centuries or scores 5000 runs in a year. Even Younus Khan has scored more in crunch situations.

Exactly, Yousuf is like Tendulkar is for India
both are CLASS and GREAT to watch for the public but havent played many matchwinning innings under pressure like an Inzamam or a Dravid.

That's why for me personally only Younus can come close to Inzamam's greatness.

But Insha'Allah i think Yousuf seeing his records will reach the ICC hall of legends.

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"Shahid Afridi has a bowler's psyche not a batsman's mindset": Wasim Akram