Monday, December 10, 2007

Younis - Yousuf pair sets a new record against India

Younis - Yousuf pair today made entry into the record books as the most prolific pair to bat against India. By the time Younis Khan was bowled trying to employ a reverse sweep against Harbhajan Singh, the duo had aggregated 1,372 runs in just nine innings -in which they have batted together against India- at a mind blowing average of 171.50, moving ahead of West Indian pair of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes who had aggregated 1,325 runs in 30 innings against India. Interestingly two Ys took only nine innings to obliterate West Indian pair’s record!

Out of nine occasions on which these two batted together against India, they were involved in six century partnerships and two fifty partnerships - indeed a mind-blowing performance.
 
Most prolific pairs against India:
Batsmen                              Inns Runs   Hs    Avg  100 50
Mohammad Yousuf & Younis Khan (Pak)    9  1372  319  171.50  6  2
CG Greenidge & DL Haynes (WI)         30  1325  296   45.68  2  6
Javed Miandad & Zaheer Abbas (Pak)    13  1137  287  103.36  4  3
Javed Miandad & Mudassar Nazar (Pak)   9   993  451  110.33  4  1
S Chanderpaul & CL Hooper (WI)        14   962  293   68.71  3  1
ML Hayden & JL Langer (Aus)           20   949  147   47.45  2  8
G Boycott & GA Gooch (Eng)            14   774  145   64.50  2  5
WM Lawry & RB Simpson (Aus)            9   753  191   83.66  2  5
ST Jayasuriya & RS Mahanama (SL)       3   671  576  223.66  1  1
MA Atherton & GA Gooch (Eng)           7   661  225   94.42  3  0


Although the pair’s average dipped from 185.71 (before today) to 171.50 after today’s “failure”, it still is the highest for any pair aggregating at least 1,000 runs against a specific country. The pair is well ahead of some of the great names in the game’s history as is shown below:

 
Most successful pairs against a particular country:
Batsmen                               Opp Inns Runs  Hs   Avg  100 50
Mohammad Yousuf & Younis Khan (Pak)   Ind   9  1372  319 171.50  6  2
DG Bradman & WH Ponsford (Aus)        Eng   6  1012  451 168.66  2  1
DPMD Jayawardene & KC Sangakkara (SL) SA    8  1304  624 163.00  4  2
Javed Miandad & Zaheer Abbas (Pak)    Ind  13  1137  287 103.36  4  3
ML Hayden & RT Ponting (Aus)          SA   13  1135  201  94.58  4  6
B Mitchell & AD Nourse (SA)           Eng  17  1300  190  86.66  4  6
JB Hobbs & H Sutcliffe (Eng)          Aus  30  2452  283  84.55 11  9
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