Younis Khan: Pakistan-India cricket rivalry would draw crowds even on Mars

Pakistan cricket legend Younis Khan has reignited calls for a bilateral series with India, emphasizing the unmatched excitement of their rivalry.

Deteriorating political relations, tense at the best of times, have meant the bitter rivals have not played a bilateral series for over a decade – with India last touring Pakistan for the Asia Cup in 2008.

India and Pakistan have only faced off in ICC multi-nation events since their last bilateral series in the 2012-13 season.

In a special conversation with Nukta at Karachi's Naya Nazimabad Cricket Stadium, Younis said fans from all over the world are interested in the match between India and Pakistan.

“The stadium is packed whenever there is an India-Pakistan match. Even if the match between India and Pakistan is held on Mars, people will go there to watch it,” Younis said.

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“Whoever performs in the matches between the two teams becomes a hero. If the players perform well, the number of their fans also increases,” he added.

Younis also said that it feels great to meet Indian players during any event since they enjoy each other’s company.

“Indian players say that they want to play the series against Pakistan, but they are forced by the decision of their government. Wherever Pakistan and India compete, people come to watch it eagerly. This is the reason that the sponsorship TV rights in these matches are also very expensive and the players of both the countries benefit immensely from this high voltage match,” he said.

Illustrious career

Younis started playing cricket after seeing his brother, who is also his role model. After that he saw Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Imran Khan and Saeed Anwar playing and was very impressed by them.

“I also got the chance to play with legends like Inzamam-ul-Haq, Muhammad Yousuf and Rashid Latif and shared dressing room with them. These people were also my role models. Every player who plays international cricket has potential, I was lucky that when I joined the Pakistan team, there were such legendary players who helped me learn a lot,” he said.

“There were many occasions when the game had ups and downs. I thought many times that I would retire and not be able to play anymore but due to the training given by my parents, I became a leader even during this difficult time,” he said.

Younis is the highest run-scorer for Pakistan in Test cricket with 10,099 runs. He also led Pakistan’s triumphant T20 World Cup title campaign in 2009 in England.

“I had wished that I or any Pakistani should score 10,000 runs. Javed Miandad, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf and Zaheer Abbas were very good players who could have achieved this feat because of their great performances but Allah gave me this opportunity for which I am extremely grateful,” he said.

Younis played 118 Tests, 265 ODIs and 25 T20Is for Pakistan over the course of his illustrious career. He retired from international cricket after the 2017 Test series against the West Indies.