Pakistani Cricket Players Biography photos: Waqar Younus

Waqar Younus biography

source link(google.com)

Waqar Younis Maitla (Punjabi: وقار یونس, born 16 November 1971) is a former Pakistani right-arm fast bowler in cricket and widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time.[4]

As of 2012, he holds the record for the youngest Pakistani Test captain and the third youngest Test captain in history (22 years 15 days).[5] He played 87 Tests and 262 One Day International (ODI) matches for Pakistan during his international cricket career from 1989 to 2003.[6]

Younis' trademark was his ability to reverse swing a cricket ball at high speed.[7] He took 373 Test wickets and 416 One Day International wickets during his career. Together with bowling partner Wasim Akram, he formed one of the world's most feared bowling attacks.[8] Younis has the best strike rate for any bowler with over 350 Test wickets.[9] He worked as a bowling coach with the national side from 2006 to 2007.[10] Waqar was appointed as the coach of the Pakistan cricket team on 3 March 2010.[11][12] He resigned as Pakistan's cricket coach on 19 August 2011 citing personal reasons.[13][14] He joined Sunrisers Hyderabad as their bowling coach for the Indian Premier League 2013 season.[15]

Waqar began his cricket career in 1987/88 Pakistan, playing for several first-class cricket clubs. However he suffered an injury when he had cut and removed his little finger on his left hand,[18] after he had jumped into a canal. He recovered from this accident and went on to continue his sporting career. He was eventually discovered by former Pakistan captain, Imran Khan and was selected to be part of the national side.[2] He had played only six first class games when he got picked for the Pakistan camp out of the blue. Waqar says "I remember Imran was not feeling well at the time, and was not present at the camp. Luckily the Super Wills Cup was going on, and there was a match between United Bank and Delhi XI. Saleem Jaffar got injured, and I got the opportunity to play that game. Imran watched me on TV, and actually came to the ground to watch the end of the game. The very next day, he met me and told me that I will be going to Sharjah next month. Just meeting Imran at the time was enough of an experience for me, but for him to notify me of my selection was just out of this world."

Waqar made his International cricket debut for Pakistan against India on 16 November 1989, in the same match that Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar made his debut. Waqar took 4 wickets in the drawn match including the wickets of Tendulkar and Kapil Dev.[21] He made an immediate impression with his speed and became known in the cricket media as "Wiki"[22] or the "Burewala Express".[22] Waqar along with Wasim Akram opened the bowling attack regularly for Pakistan, becoming a feared and potent attack.[23] At his peak, he developed into a very quick fast bowler and also became famous for achieving a hat-trick in a One Day International match against New Zealand in 1994.[23] During the early periods of 2000, he stayed out of the Pakistan team for a brief period allegedly due to suspension and conflicts with bowling partner and captain Akram.[24][25]

In March 2006, he was appointed as the bowling coach for Pakistan.[30] He resigned from this position on 6 January 2007 in protest against the Pakistan Cricket Board decision to retain him only for the Test series against South Africa and not for the subsequent series of five One Day International matches.[31][32] He was re-appointed as Pakistan's bowling and fielding coach for their tour of Australia in December 2009.[33] In February 2010, Younis was appointed the head coach of Pakistan after Intikhab Alam was sacked as coach, owing to the low level of performances of the national side during the tour of Australia earlier that year.[34]

Waqar's first job as coach was to lead an inexperienced Pakistan side missing Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik to the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 as a consolation, though Waqar had two top-notch bowlers in Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif at his disposal.[35][36] He guided the defending champions to the semi-final of the tournament before they were eliminated by Australia, whose Mike Hussey struck three sixes in the final over.[37]

The World Twenty20 was followed with the 2010 Asia Cup in which Pakistan lost to Sri Lanka by a narrow margin as Pakistan's top order collapsed and Shahid Afridi's 109 just failed to guide Pakistan to victory.[38] In the following match Pakistan lost narrowly against India courtesy of a six by Harbhajan Singh from the third ball of the final over.[39] The following match was a dead rubber between Pakistan and Bangladesh and another Afridi century meant Pakistan scored 385 runs and they comfortably won the match by 139 runs[40]

A tour of England followed, with two Twenty20's against Australia and two Test matches. Pakistan won both Twenty20's comfortably and the first Test saw Pakistan defeated by 154 runs. Pakistan rallied in the second Test and for the first time in 15 years Pakistan defeated Australia in a Test match. The previous victory in 1995 was also assisted by a superb bowling spell by Waqar Younis.[41]