ADELAIDE (Australia), Nov 1: Pakistan Test batsman Younis Khan says cricket in his homeland will wither away through a lack of top-line competition.

Younis, 30, is playing a part-season for South Australia in Australian domestic cricket and last week scored a match-saving 71 not out in South Australia’s second innings against New South Wales in a Sheffield Shield game here.

Australia have not toured Pakistan over security fears since 1998. They forced Pakistan to relocate a series to the neutral grounds of Sri Lanka and Sharjah in 2002 after the Australian government advised them against touring in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks in the US the year before.

Australia again postponed their full tour of Pakistan in March this year over security fears and only agreed to reschedule the tour into two visits for a one-day series in 2009 and for Tests in 2010.

And Australian players were at the forefront of boycotting the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan in September, which has now been postponed until October next year.

Younis warned cricket in Pakistan will fall away if it remained starved of visiting top-line opponents.

“At the moment we are in a very bad shape,” Younis told The Australian newspaper on Saturday. “In Pakistan there are a lot of very good people. But because of some mad people, perhaps five percent of the population, because of them we are suffering at the moment.

“The Pakistani people are not like that. They love Australian cricket. They love to watch Brett Lee bowling, or Shaun Tait, or Ricky Ponting, they say ‘oh what a fantastic player Ricky Ponting is’.

“If they’re not touring, we will be suffering. It will be very bad for us,” Younis added.

Less than two weeks after arriving from Pakistan, Younis has some claim to being the most popular member of the South Australian team, the newspaper added.

Team physio Jon Porter said of Younis: “Mate, he’s brilliant. I’ve never met a happier bloke. Even when [New South Wales] made 550 he didn’t stop smiling.”

Younis has scored 4,816 runs in 58 Tests at an average of 49.14, with 15 centuries, and has played in 175 One-day Internationals for Pakistan since 2000.—AFP