Pakistan's Younis Khan becomes first batsman to score Test tons in 11 countries

Veteran Pakistan batsman Younis Khan on Thursday became the first player in Test cricket to score centuries in 11 countries that have hosted the longest format of the game.

He has scored centuries in 10 countries and one at United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is currently Pakistan's home venue for international matches. Opponent countries refuse to play in Pakistan owing to security reasons.

The 39-year-old slammed his 34th century on the third day of the third Test match against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) here.

Younis was unbeaten at 136 runs, accompanied by Yasir Shah (5) when the day's action ended. Pakistan reached 271/8, still trailing Australia by 267 runs on the rain-affected third day.

He joined legends Sunil Gavaskar, Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene and West Indian Brian Lara in the all-time list for most Test centuries at the sixth place.

Sachin Tendulkar leads the elite list with 51 centuries, followed by South African Jack Kallis (45), Australian Ricky Ponting (41), Kumar Sangakkara (38) and Rahul Dravid (36).

Apart from Younis, Dravid is the only batsman to score centuries in all 10 full-member Test nations.

The 39-year-old, with an average of above 50 in Tests is close to the 10,000 run mark, standing at 9,789 runs in 114 matches.

He is playing his 115th match. There have only been 12 batsmen in history to have scored over 10,000 runs in Tests.

--IANS

gau/sam/bg