Waqar Younis

Waqar Younis Biography

Waqar Younis Maitla was born in Vehari Pakistan on 16 November 1971. He is a right arm fast bowler who is known to be one of the greatest pacers the game has ever seen. The late inswings coupled with swift pace was undeniably the recipe for his success, his deliveries were designed to drop as an yorker and swing at the last moment, making it absolutely difficult for the batsman to read and react. No wonder he took 373 test wickets in just 87 test matches and 416 in just 262 ODI matches which just goes to show what kind of an aptitude he had for cricket.

Background

Waqar was raised by his father who was a contract worker in the United Arab Emirates but he returned to Pakistan and started playing cricket during his teenage.

He began his cricketing career in first class cricket where he played for several clubs.

Debut

Waqar had a dream debut against India at the National Stadium in November 1989, he immediately showed his prowess in bowling by taking four important wickets of Sanjay Manjrekar, Manoj Prabhakar, Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev in the first innings however the match was drawn.

Waqar Younis made his ODI debut a month ago his test, he couldn't manage to take any wickets and bowled only four overs but was very economical against West Indies.

Rise to Glory

Waqar and Wasim Akram were a deadly duo, there partnership in bowling was termed as the  "Burewala Express". In his prime days Waqar had fierce pace in his bowling and it showed in his game when he took a hat-trick in an ODI against New-Zealand in 1994. Waqar bowling style was different than most other fast bowlers instead of pitching the ball short, he used to ball full length deliveries aiming at batsman’s toes. He changed the way pace bowlers used to play the game.

Low Points

Waqar’s career though being a great one, wasn't spotless. He was out of Pakistan’s team during the start of year 2000 due to conflicts with his partner and captain Akram. In July of the same year he was banned due to ball tampering and was fined half of the match fee. The 2003 world cup was also not a very good period for Waqar as he was out of bowling attack after delivering a beamer at Australian player Andrew Symonds.

Club Career

Attracting much of english attention in the 1990s Waqar played for Surrey in domestic cricket. In 1991 he took 113 wickets in 582 overs he bowled carrying the bowling attack of the club alone on his shoulders. He also won the English County Championship  playing for Glamorgan in 1997.

Captaincy

At just the age of 22, Waqar was made the captain of Pakistan leading the team in 17 tests and 62 ODI matches.

Retirement

Waqar had a bad end to his career, he announced his retirement in April 2004 shortly after crashing out of the 2003 World cup in which Pakistan had a bad run. Post retirement he became the bowling coach of Pakistan in March 2006, but resigned in an year to start his journey in commentating.

In December 2009 he was re-appointed as Pakistan’s bowling and fielding coach and took up the head coach position later. However Pakistan’s under the par performance and some personal reasons had him force his resignation after 2011 World cup.

In March 2013 he joined he Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL team as their bowling coach. Pakistan reappointed Waqar as their head coach once again in May 2014.