Younis Khan yesterday added his name to the ever-increasing list of batsmen who have reserved their best performance for India. Younis is the 34th batsman to score a double century against India.Of these as many as 25 also achieved their career-best score against India. A detailed look into the career statistics of these players reveals some interesting facts. West Indian Faoud Bacchus made 250 at Kanpur in 1978-79. It was the only hundred of his Test career and his highest score in first class cricket also. Surprised, then just have a look at England's David Lloyd's case. Lloyd made an unbeaten 214 in the Birmingham Test in 1974 series. In all his Test career, he did not have another score of 50 or more.
New Zealand's Graeme Dowling, who scored a match winning 239 at Christchurch in 1967-68- in a match where second highest score from either side was a paltry 74, had three centuries in his Test career. Interestingly all three came against India only. Another Kiwi batsman Bert Sutcliffe, who made unbeaten 230 at Delhi in 1955-56, had his three highest scores in Test cricket made against India. But Pakistan's Mudassar Nazar had even better record. Mudassar's first five highest scores all came against India.
Among the contemporary batsmen, Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawerdene, Australia's Ricky Ponting and now Pakistan's Younis Khan have made their highest score against India.
If we remove the minimum qualification of a double century, then as many as four players of this Pakistan side playing at Bangalore - Shahid Afridi,Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Sami and Younis Khan - have made their highest Test score against India.
