Mohammad Yousuf broke Viv Richards’ thrity-year-old record of the most number of test runs in a calendar year by striking an unbeaten 52 this morning.
Yousuf has already broken the record of scoring the most number of centuries in a calendar year by scoring 102 in the first innings. He has so far struck 1716 runs in the 11 tests played this year. Viv Richards scored 1710 runs the same number of test matches 30 years ago.
Pakistan started the day on 134 for the loss of two wickets with a total lead of 178. Playing cautiously, with perhaps the record at the back of his mind, Yousuf failed to time the ball properly or find gaps earlier on in the day. However, the ones that did find the middle raced over the quicker-than-usual outfield and into the boundary.
A higher than normal crowd, including school children arriving in packed buses, had come to the stadium to cheer on Mohammad Yousuf in his record-breaking innings. Every delivery and every shot played by Yousuf was cheered loudly by an energetic crowd thus adding to Yousuf’s blatant nervousness of the task he had on hand.
Hafeez, not out on 57 overnight, remained anonymous throughout the morning session because of Yousuf even though he played some exquisite drives, both on and off, on his way to an unbeaten 77.
With Yousuf breaking the record, Pakistan had moved on to 205 without losing any further wickets this morning. The total lead now stands at 249 with five sessions and a deteriorating pitch in front of us.
© Faras Ghani 2006
Published in The Star 30th Nov 2006
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