KARACHI, Feb 25: Former Pakistan greats Hanif Mohammad and Wasim Akram on Wednesday termed Younis Khan’s epic knock of 313 in the drawn first Test against Sri Lanka at the National Stadium as one of the finest innings played.

The legendary Hanif described Younis’s marathon effort — which lasted 768 minutes and consumed 568 deliveries — as good as any in the long history of the game after the Pakistan captain failed by 88 runs to better now retired West Indies captain Brian Lara’s world-record unbeaten innings of 400 in the Antigua Test against England in 2004.

“Younis played one of the greatest knocks to lift Pakistan out of a very difficult situation. I wanted to be the first man to congratulate him on this great achievement,” Hanif said.

“Sadly though, I later had to offer my sympathies after he was unable to break [Brian Lara’s] record. I dearly wanted him to get past Lara,” the famed Little Master, who still holds Pakistan Test record with that unforgettable 337 against the West Indies in 1957-58,” the 55-Test veteran added.

Hanif praised Younis for setting a perfect example for the team through his grand knock, adding he would not have regretted had Younis gone past his (Hanif’s) innings in the Bridgetown Test after Pakistan were forced to follow on to face a then-mighty Caribbean pace battery.

“I thought it was a courageous innings and the way Younis went about his job typified his fighting abilities as a team leader because Pakistan were under tremendous pressure when Sri Lanka posted that huge total [644-7 declared]. His leading from the front augurs well for Pakistan because I saw some glimpses of Imran Khan, who as well known was a great captain,” Hanif, who scored 12 centuries during his illustrious Test career, said.

“As far as my record is concerned, I would have no regrets had Younis been successful in making more than 337. However, records are meant to be broken.

“When I broke Don Bradman’s first-class record of 452 by making 499 nobody challenged that score until Lara hit 501 not out for [English county side] Warwickshire against Durham in 1994,” Hanif, whose Bridgetown innings against some hurricane fast bowling is still regarded as a benchmark in cricket, said.

Meanwhile, Wasim Akram rated Younis’s innings technically one of the best played under pressure against two of the finest spinners.

“Technically speaking, I think it was a great knock. Despite some people saying it was scored on a batting track, it was not an ordinary achievement because Younis was leading a team which was under pressure and up against two fine spinners [Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis],” Wasim, Pakistan’s front-line pace bowler in the 1992 World Cup, stated.

“It’s no joke [for an individual] to score 300 runs against a champion bowler like Muralitharan and an upcoming talented one like Mendis while batting for more than two days,” Wasim, who played 104 Test matches and 356 One-day Internationals for Pakistan, noted.

The former Pakistan captain said he wasn’t disappointed when Muralitharan broke his One-day International record of 502 wickets during the recent series against India in Sri Lanka.

“But when Younis broke my record [of being the Pakistan captain with highest Test score of 257 not against Zimbabwe] that I made as skipper in Sheikhupura in 1996, I was a bit disappointed,” he joked. “But to be honest, it matters little to me.”