Stats Analysis

Younis and Yasir lead Pakistan's charge to No. 1

Younis Khan's incredible run with the bat and Yasir Shah's magical legspin were the key factors in Pakistan's rise to the top

Younis Khan and Yasir Shah have been key players for Pakistan over the last several months  ESPNcricinfo Ltd

13-9 Pakistan's win-loss ratio, from 26 Tests, since May 2013, the period during which the ICC Test rankings are calculated. The only team with a better win-loss ratio during this period is Australia, who won 19 and lost 12. However, the ICC rankings give more emphasis to recent results: all results before May 2015 get only 50% weightage, while those from May 2015 onwards carry 100% weightage. In the last 16 months, Pakistan have a 7-3 win-loss to Australia's 10-6. The only team with a better record than Pakistan's since May 2015 is India (7-1), but India's overall record since May 2013 is 10-8.

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4 Series that Pakistan have won, out of 10 since May 2013. All of those wins have come in their last six series, when they beat Australia and England in the UAE, and Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in away series. They had also drawn series against New Zealand (in the UAE) and England (away) during this period, while their only defeat was by a 2-0 margin in Sri Lanka a couple of years ago.

62.95 Younis Khan's Test average since May 2013 - he has scored 2707 runs from 49 innings, with 11 hundreds out of 15 fifty-plus scores. He has scored at least one hundred in all except one of the ten series he played during this period. Among all players who have scored at least 1000 Test runs in the last 40 months, only three - Adam Voges, Kane Williamson, and Steven Smith - have a higher average.

32.8 Contribution, in terms of percentage, by Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq to the total runs that Pakistan scored off the bat in the last 40 months. Misbah tallied 2215 runs at an average of 55.37, and together the two scored 4922 runs out of Pakistan's 15002.

6 Pakistan batsmen who have scored 1000-plus Test runs at averages of more than 44 in Tests during this period - Younis, Misbah, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Hafeez and Sarfraz Ahmed. Among them they scored 37 hundreds, and were largely instrumental in ensuring that Pakistan's batting average was a healthy 38.15, better than all teams except New Zealand (38.38) and Australia (39.33).

Pakistan batsmen in Tests since May 2013
Batsman Mat Inns Runs Ave 100s 50s
 Younis Khan  26  49  2707  62.95  11  4
 Misbah-ul-Haq  26  46  2215  55.37  7  16
 Asad Shafiq  26  42  1778  44.45  6  7
 Azhar Ali  22  42  1778  44.45  6  6
 Mohammad Hafeez  18  34  1450  46.77  4  4
 Sarfraz Ahmed  21  36  1400  53.84  3  7

9 Number of Pakistan players who have won Man-of-the-Match awards in Tests since May 2013. Younis has won four, Azhar two, and seven others have won one each - Misbah, Khurram Manzoor, Hafeez, Rahat Ali, Sarfraz, Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah. Only four players have won more than four match awards in Tests during this period.

95 Wickets for Yasir Shah in 16 Tests at an average of 27.48; he was by far Pakistan's highest wicket-taker during this period: the next best was 51, by Zulfiqar Babar. In the 10 Test wins that Yasir has been a part of, he has taken 69 wickets at 20.07. In the period since October 2014, when Yasir made his Test debut, no bowler has taken as many wickets in wins.

Pakistan bowlers in Tests since May 2013
Bowler Mat Wickets Ave SR 5WI
 Yasir Shah  16  95  27.48  53.7  6
 Zulfiqar Babar  13  51  38.82  79.9  2
 Saeed Ajmal  9  45  29.60  74.0  3
 Junaid Khan  13  42  34.19  69.5  2
 Rahat Ali  15  42  38.80  74.9  1
 Wahab Riaz  11  36  34.69  60.8  0
Most wickets in Test wins since Oct 22, 2014
Bowler Tests Wickets Average Strike rate 5WI
 Yasir Shah  10  69  20.07  43.6  4
 Nathan Lyon  12  59  23.30  42.8  2
 Stuart Broad  11  57  17.89  38.8  2
 Josh Hazlewood  10  52  20.84  42.9  3
 Rangana Herath  7  51  15.74  38.5  5

Younis KhanMisbah-ul-HaqYasir ShahPakistan

S Rajesh is stats editor of ESPNcricinfo. @rajeshstats