Waqar Younis Maitla HI ( Punjabi, ur, ; born 16 November 1971) is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who captained

Pakistan national cricket team The Pakistan national cricket team or Pak cricket team, often referred to as the Shaheens (), Green Shirts, Men in Green and Cornered Tigers is administered by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The team is a Full Member of the International ...

. A right-arm

fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. ...

, Waqar Younis is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers to have played the game. He is the former head coach of the Pakistani cricket team. As of 2021, Younis holds the record for the youngest Pakistani Test captain and the fourth youngest Test captain in history (22 years 15 days). He played 87

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

and 262

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

(ODI) matches for

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

during his international cricket career from 1989 to 2003. Younis' trademark was his ability to

reverse swing Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as swing bowlers. Swing bowling is generally classed as a subtype of fast bowling. The aim of swing bowling is to cause the ball to move in the ai ...

cricket ball A cricket ball is a hard, solid ball used to play cricket. A cricket ball consists of a cork core wound with string then a leather cover stitched on, and manufacture is regulated by cricket law at first-class level. The trajectory of a crick ...

at high speed. He took 373

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

wicket In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

s and 416

wickets during his career. Together with bowling partner

Wasim Akram Wasim Akram HI (; born 3 June 1966) is a Pakistani cricket commentator, coach, and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. Akram is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, and several crit ...

, he formed one of the world's most feared bowling attacks. Younis has the best strike rate, after

Dale Steyn Dale Willem Steyn (; born 27 June 1983) is a South African former professional cricketer who played for the South African Cricket Team. He is often regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time and the best Test bowler of his generat ...

, for any bowler with over 350 Test wickets. He is the youngest bowler to take 400 wickets in ODI cricket. He is also placed in the top ten of all time based on ICC rankings. He worked as a bowling coach with the national side from 2006 to 2007. Waqar was appointed the coach of the

Pakistan cricket team The Pakistan national cricket team or Pak cricket team, often referred to as the Shaheens (), Green Shirts, Men in Green and Cornered Tigers is administered by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The team is a Full Member of the International ...

on 3 March 2010. He resigned as Pakistan's cricket coach on 19 August 2011 citing personal reasons. He joined

Sunrisers Hyderabad Sunrisers Hyderabad (stylised as SunRisers Hyderabad, SRH) are a franchise cricket team based in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by Kalanithi Maran of the SUN Group and was ...

as their bowling coach for the

Indian Premier League 2013 The 2013 season of the Indian Premier League, abbreviated as IPL 6 or Pepsi IPL 2013, was the sixth season of the IPL, established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. The tournament featured nine teams and was held fro ...

season. On 4 September 2019, Younis was appointed by the PCB as Pakistan's new bowling coach on a 3-year contract. He replaced

Azhar Mahmood Azhar Mahmood ( pnb, اظہر محمود ساگر; born 28 February 1975) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer. He was the bowling coach of the Pakistani national cricket team until 2019. Previously, he played Tests and ODIs for Pa ...

, who was sacked after Pakistan's disappointing performance in the ICC World Cup 2019 tournament.

Early and personal life

Younis was born in

Punjab, Pakistan Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...

to a

Punjabi Muslim Punjabi Muslims ( pa, ) are adherents of Islam who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Punjabis. Primarily geographically native to the Punjab province of Pakistan today, many have ancestry in the entire Punjab region, ...

family. He had studied in

Sadiq Public School The Sadiq Public School (SPS) is a college-preparatory boarding school located in Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan. It also takes day pupils. It is one of the largest schools in Pakistan and its area of makes it both the largest in the country and i ...

Bahawalpur Bahawalpur () is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. With inhabitants as of 2017, it is Pakistan's 11th most populous city. Founded in 1748, Bahawalpur was the capital of the former princely state of Bahawalpur, ruled by the Abbasi fa ...

, Pakistan, the Pakistan Islamia school in Sharjah and the Government College in Burewala, Pakistan. He was raised in

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital ...

in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, where his father was a contract worker. He returned to Pakistan and started playing cricket there during his adolescent years. He used to travel to

Burewala Burewala (Punjabi and ur, ), is a city of Vehari District in Punjab, Pakistan. The city of Burewala is the headquarters of Burewala Tehsil, an administrative subdivision of the district.runner Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is ...

, a

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the wom ...

er, a high jumper and a pole-vaulter in different competitions, initially being a

leg-spinner Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

before choosing pace bowling. He is married, Younis has also worked as a television sports commentator for the Nine Network in Australia and for

Ten Sports Sony Sports Network, formerly Sony Pictures Sports Network, and also known as Sony TEN, is a group of Indian pay television sports channels owned by Culver Max Entertainment (formerly Sony Pictures Networks India). The original TEN Sports chan ...

in the

Playing career

Younis began his cricket career in 1987/88 Pakistan, playing for several

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

clubs. However he suffered an injury when he had cut and removed his little finger on his left hand, 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 Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

and was selected to be part of the national side. 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 Saleem Jaffar (born 19 November 1962) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer who played in 14 Test cricket, Test matches and 39 One Day Internationals from 1986 to 1992. Jaffar was born in Karachi, Sindh.He was a right-handed batsman a ...

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."

Domestic

English audiences became aware of Waqar's talent during the early 1990s, when he played for

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. By taking 113 wickets in 582 overs for Surrey in 1991, at a mere 14.65 apiece (thereby topping the season's first-class bowling averages), and by carrying on his shoulders an otherwise moderate county attack, he announced himself as one of the finest contemporary bowlers. There he displayed excellent cricketing performances and attracted attention from the sporting public. He went on to win the English County Championship with Glamorgan in 1997. He took 7 wickets for 25 against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

at Liverpool on 21 June 1997, which included a hat-trick achieved after narrowly missing a hat-trick and took 68 wickets in the season.

International

Younis made his International cricket debut for

against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

on 16 November 1989, in the same match that Indian batsman

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...

made his debut. Waqar took 4 wickets in the drawn match including the wickets of Tendulkar and

Kapil Dev Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj (Pronunciation: əpiːl deːʋ born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and was named by '' Wisden'' as the Indian Cricketer of the Cen ...

. He made an immediate impression with his speed and became known in the cricket media as "Wiki" or the "Burewala Express". Waqar along with

opened the bowling attack regularly for Pakistan, becoming a feared and potent attack. At his peak, he developed into a very quick fast bowler and achieved a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a One Day International match against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 1994. 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. His return to cricket came with him being appointed the captain of Pakistan. However, he had to deal with allegations of ball-tampering and a number of controversies. In July 2000 Waqar was banned to play in an international match for ball tampering and was fined 50% of his match fee. He was the first cricketer to be banned from playing in a match for such incident. He was involved in further controversy during 2003 World Cup matches. In the opening match against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, Waqar was removed from the attack after bowling a beamer at

Andrew Symonds Andrew Symonds (9 June 1975 – 14 May 2022) was an Australian international cricketer, who played all three formats as a batting all-rounder. Commonly nicknamed "Roy", he was a key member of two World Cup winning squads. Symonds played as a r ...

, becoming the first bowler to be disciplined in such a way during an international match. The Pakistanis then crashed out of the group stage after winning only two matches, both against associate member teams. After the tournament he conceded the captaincy and was dropped from international selection. After a nearly 15-year career, Waqar announced his retirement from cricket altogether in April 2004. At the end of his career he finished as the second highest wicket taker for Pakistani in test cricket with 373 wickets.

Coaching

In March 2006, he was appointed as the bowling coach for Pakistan. He resigned from this position on 6 January 2007 in protest against the

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team. A member of the International Cricket Coun ...

decision to retain him only for the Test series against South Africa and not for the subsequent series of five One Day International matches. He also blamed captain Inzamam-ul-Haq for going with Mushtaq Ahmed instead of him for the bowling coach position. He was re-appointed as Pakistan's bowling and fielding coach for their tour of Australia in December 2009. In February 2010, Younis was appointed the head coach of Pakistan after

Intikhab Alam Intikhab Alam Khan (Urdu:) (born 28 December 1941) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer who played in 47 Test matches and four One Day Internationals from 1959 to 1977. He captained Pakistan in 17 Tests between 1969 and 1975. He a ...

was sacked as coach, owing to the low level of performances of the national side during the tour of Australia earlier that year. Waqar's first job as coach was to lead an inexperienced Pakistan side missing

Younis Khan Mohammad Younis Khan PP SI (Urdu: ; Pashto: ; born 29 November 1977) is a Pakistani professional cricket coach and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team in all three formats of the game, and is widely regarded as ...

Mohammad Yousuf Mohammad Yusuf, Muhammad Yousuf and other spellings, may refer to: Politicians * Mohammad Yusuf (politician), prime minister and foreign minister of Afghanistan * Mohammad Yousef, a governor of Daykundi of Province, Afghanistan * Muhammad Yusuf ...

and Shoaib Malik to the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 as a consolation, though Waqar had two top-notch bowlers in

Mohammad Amir Mohammad Amir ( ur, ; born 13 April 1992) is a Pakistani cricketer and bowler for the Pakistan national cricket team. He is playing as a left-arm fast-medium bowler and uses his left hand when batting. Amir made his first-class debut in N ...

and Mohammad Asif at his disposal. He guided the defending champions to the semi-final of the tournament before they were eliminated by Australia, whose

Mike Hussey Michael Edward Killeen Hussey (born 27 May 1975) is an Australian cricket coach, commentator and former international cricketer, who played all forms of the game. Hussey is also widely known by his nickname 'Mr Cricket'. Hussey was a relative la ...

struck three sixes in the final over. 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. In the following match Pakistan lost narrowly against India courtesy of a six by

Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh (born 3 July 1980) is a member of parliament in Rajya Sabha and an Indian retired cricketer and cricket commentator, who played for the Indian national cricket team from 1998 - 2016. Singh was a right-arm spin bowler. In India ...

from the third ball of the final over. 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. 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. This tour was followed by a controversial tour of England as Pakistan headed in to the final Test match needing to win it to level the series 2–2. The News of the World broke the news that

, Mohammad Asif and captain

Salman Butt Salman Butt (, born 7 October 1984) is a former Pakistani cricketer and captain who played for Pakistan national cricket team between 2003 and 2010, before getting banned for five years for his involvement in 2010 spot-fixing scandal. He had ...

were involved in

Spot-fixing Spot-fixing is illegal activity in a sport in which a specific aspect of a game, unrelated to the final result but upon which a betting market exists, is fixed in an attempt to ensure a certain result in a proposition bet. Examples include somet ...

. This saw the three players temporarily suspended and Pakistan lost by an innings and 225 runs – their biggest defeat in history. Low team morale meant the next two T20 matches were won comfortably by England, and the subsequent ODI series was won 3–2 by England as well. This was followed by a tour of Abu Dhabi against South Africa. Pakistan lost the first Twenty20 match by six wickets following a batting collapse. Pakistan also lost the ODI series of five matches 3–2. Pakistan won the second ODI due to

Abdul Razzaq ʻAbd al-Razzāq (ALA-LC romanization of ar, عبد الرزاق) is a male Muslim given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Razzāq'', one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which give rise to ...

's superb performance of 109* off 72 balls. The Test series of two matches with South Africa was drawn. He also stated that now it was the time for Pakistan to rally and prepare for the World Cup. Pakistan started the World Cup campaign in a strong fashion winning 5 out their 6 group matches and finishing on top of their group. Pakistan went on to beat West Indies in the quarter-finals by 10 wickets but lost to India in the semi-finals by 29 runs. Waqar eventually stepped down as Pakistan coach in August 2011 citing personal reasons but a rift with captain Shahid Afridi may have been a contributing factor. In March 2013 it was announced that he would join Sunrisers Hyderabad as their bowling coach for the Indian Premier League 2013 season. In May 2014, Waqar was reappointed as the head coach of

Pakistan Cricket team The Pakistan national cricket team or Pak cricket team, often referred to as the Shaheens (), Green Shirts, Men in Green and Cornered Tigers is administered by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The team is a Full Member of the International ...

for a period of two years, commencing from June 2014, hence serving in that capacity for the second time. Waqar resigned from the position of Head Coach of Pakistani Cricket team, on April 4, 2016. Waqar said the reasons behind his resignation were cricket board's failure to work on his recommendations and leak of a confidential report after the World T20. He will serve as the head coach for

Multan Sultans Multan Sultans (Urdu: ) is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team representing the city of Multan in southern Pakistan in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team was founded in 2017 as an additional sixth team added to the P ...

During the Third season of the

Pakistan Super League The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league contested during February and March of every year by six teams representing six cities of Pakistan. The league was founded on 9 September 2015 with five teams by the Paki ...

. On 16 November 2017 Waqar appointed as a mentor for Sylhet Sixers a team of Bangladesh Premier League for 2017. As of March 15, 2018 Waqar appointed for their head coach for the next two editions of Bangladesh Premier League After the

Cricket World Cup 2019 The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 Ma ...

, Waqar was reappointed as bowling coach of Pakistan Cricket team for a fourth time.

2016 ICC World Twenty20

Waqar Younis faced great criticism after Pakistan was unable to make it to the semi-finals, with less pressure on the fact that the country had not seen international cricket for a number of years, Younis was initially blamed. After winning against Bangladesh in the Twenty20 2016, the team lost against New Zealand, India and Australia, leading to their outing. Waqar 'begged' for forgiveness to the nation and said he was ready to retire if it was needed but also said it could have been due to the lack of cricket in their own country. However, he later wrote in his report that he blamed Pakistan's poor performance in the matches on player Shahid Afridi. Younis submitted the report to the

PCB PCB may refer to: Science and technology * Polychlorinated biphenyl, an organic chlorine compound, now recognized as an environmental toxin and classified as a persistent organic pollutant * Printed circuit board, a board used in electronics * ...

where it was somehow leaked to the media. He expressed his anger and said that the report was confidential – it caused fans, on social media sites, to express disappointment in him to see him shifting the blame onto Afridi. Younis, in the report, accused Afridi of being 'non-serious' during the matches and said

Mohammad Hafeez Mohammad Hafeez ( Punjabi and ur, ; born 17 October 1980) is a former Pakistani international cricketer. Hafeez was a versatile batsman who could bat anywhere in the top 6 and formed part of the bowling attack. He played as a spin bowling a ...

hid his knee injury as well, which also affected their performance. He also said Afridi either performed poorly himself, or that other players did not listen to him as a captain. Regarding the report, he said the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) were painting him as the ''bad guy'' and skipped meeting with him regarding the issue later on as it is most likely that they leaked the report. He then also scrapped plans of retirement and said he wanted to focus on the leak, despite his contract as coach ending in June 2016. Younis said he did not want to blame individuals but largely singled out players, particularly Afridi. He said Akmal should not have been selected, instead it should be players who are 'proud' to represent their country. He also said that the team lost the Asia cup in February 2016 because they were 'unfit' as they had not trained during PSL season and said it was like a 'holiday for them'. Overall, he blamed it on ''poor captaincy'' from Afridi. He said it was unfair for him to first use Mohammad Nawaz, a new player, as a bowler in the Asia Cup 2016 because it 'destroyed' his confidence when he was unable to handle it after being hit for 38 runs in 3 overs. Younis later posted on his Twitter – 'no one wants to hear the truth'. On 4 April 2016, Waqar resigned as Head Coach of the team, just after Shahid Afridi resigned as T20 captain. His reason behind it was the PCB who he said had used him as the "scapegoat" and shown him as a "villain" by leaking the Twenty20 report. He stepped down as coach 3 months before his contract would end and said that his scrapped salary should definitely be invested in domestic cricket. He added that he had tried his best to revive the team but they were still unable to better their performance and his recommendations in the report were badly handled by the PCB, who refused to even talk about the leak. Waqar Younis said his services to Pakistan cricket should not be forgotten and said he was stepping down with a heavy heart.

Style

Waqar is one of several Pakistani fast bowlers, beginning with

Sarfraz Nawaz Sarfraz Nawaz Malik ( Punjabi, ur, ) (born 1 December 1948) is a former Pakistani Test cricketer and politician, who was instrumental in Pakistan's first Test series victories over India and England. Between 1969 and 1984, he played 55 Tests ...

, who have been successful at bowling

, because he was used as an old-ball bowler early in his career until

retired. In partnership with Akram, Younis opened the Pakistan bowling attack in the 1990s. Cricket critics and scholars attribute Younis and Akram to be one of the most effective fast bowling partnerships in cricket history, due to their ability to swing the ball at high speed. The ability to reverse swing and his speed led to him becoming one of the most talented bowlers in modern cricket. Waqar explained his ability to reverse swing by the manipulation of an old ball; with one side shiny, one side rough, the ball would move in the opposite direction to conventional swing. This led to Waqar having the ability to bowl

inswinger An inswinger is a type of delivery of the ball in the sport of cricket. In such a delivery the ball curves—or "swings"—in toward the batter's body and the wicket. By contrast, an outswinger swings away from the line of the batter and the wi ...

s and

outswinger An outswinger is a type of delivery of the ball in the sport of cricket. In such a delivery the ball curves—or "swings"—out and away from the batter's body and the wicket. By contrast, an inswinger swings in toward the batter and the wicket. ...

s in the cricket pitch and in effect both Waqar and Akram became successful in taking wickets by this variation of

swing bowling Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as swing bowlers. Swing bowling is generally classed as a subtype of fast bowling. The aim of swing bowling is to cause the ball to move in the ai ...

. His fastest timed delivery in cricket was 153 km/h or 95.1 mph, a delivery he bowled against South Africa in 1993 but this was after he had suffered serious back injuries which had really reduced his bowling speeds. He was also effective in the use of

bouncers A bouncer (also known as a doorman or door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, stripclubs, casinos, hotels, billiard halls, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, ...

or short pitch deliveries; Waqar's bowling against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in Sheikhupura in Pakistan, is remembered for his effective use of the short pitched delivery. Following Pakistan's victory during the Test match series versus

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1992, the English media were suspicious of the reverse swing delivery. It was relatively unknown to the cricketing world during that period and this led to accusations of foul play by critics, however cricket officials found no evidence of foul play and the skill of the reverse swing delivery has been accepted in cricket. Sri Lanka fast bowler,

Lasith Malinga Separamadu Lasith Malinga ( si, සෙපරමාදු ලසිත් මාලිංග; born 28 August 1983), nicknamed "Slinga Malinga", is a Sri Lankan former cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest limited overs bowlers ...

, who became the first bowler in World Cup history to take two hat-tricks, has said that he learnt to bowl his deadly yorkers by watching Pakistan's legendary pair of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. No doubt over the years several bowlers have learned and mastered the skill of reverse swing but there are still some techniques which haven't have been explored, e.g. banana swing. The title of Banana Swing Bowler was given to Waqar Younis because of his unique technique of swinging the ball in the air at very high speed before hitting the ground. In most of his hat tricks he has delivered banana swing balls which were unplayable. Despite his qualities as a fast bowler, he was expensive at times and sometimes lacked the consistency of bowlers such as

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

fast bowler

Curtly Ambrose Sir Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose KCN (born 21 September 1963) is an Antiguan former cricketer who played 98 Test matches for the West Indies. Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, he took 405 Test wickets at ...

and

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

fast bowler Glenn McGrath. This may be partly due to the mentality of his former captain,

, who prioritised aggression and speed.

Fan following

The world's fastest sprinter and runner

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight- ...

, who is from

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

(in the West Indies), once replied while being asked about who were his heroes when he was a child: "When I was really small I loved the Pakistan cricket team. Waqar Younis was one of the greatest bowlers ever, and I was a bowler so I really enjoyed watching him. I was a big Pakistan fan until I got older, when I noticed that I should actually support my home team." When asked what if there was a match between Pakistan and Windies, Bolt remarked "I would still have supported Pakistan, that's what I'm saying – when I was little, it was all about Pakistan."

Award and records

*Waqar is the second best strike rate holder in Test Match Cricket with a minimum of 10,000 balls being bowled He has a strike rate of 43.4 even after bowling 16224 deliveries, which made him second only to

who has a strike rate of 42.0 after bowling 17707 deliveries in test match cricket. *Waqar was named among the

Wisden Cricketers of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 1992 for his sporting achievements. He is also the only bowler to have taken 5 wickets in an innings in 3 consecutive One Day International matches. In terms of deliveries bowled, he has taken the fastest 300, 350 and 400 wickets in One Day International matches. *Although primarily a fast bowler, Waqar scored 1010 Test match runs during his career. As of September 2005, he was the only non-batsman to achieve a thousand runs without scoring a fifty. Waqar holds the record for the best strike rate for any bowler with over 350 Test wickets. *Waqar Younis holds the record for the best bowling figures as a captain in an ODI(7/36) and was also the first captain to take a 7 wicket haul in an ODI innings. *He also holds the record for scoring the most career ODI runs when batting at number 10 (478) *He is the youngest ever bowler to take a five wicket haul in an ODI innings (at the age of 18 years and 164 days) *He holds the record for taking the most 4 wicket hauls in ODI cricket(27) *He holds the record for taking the most consecutive five wicket hauls in terms of innings(3) and he's also the only player to achieve this milestone for 3 successive times *He is the only bowler to take 3 successive 4fers in an ODI innings thrice in his career

Five wickets in an innings

Waqar Younis has taken five or more wickets in an innings on 22 occasions in Test cricket. In One Day International matches, he has taken the most five-wicket hauls (on 13 occasions).

ICC Hall of Fame

Younis was inducted in the

ICC Hall of Fame The ICC Cricket Hall of Fame recognises "the achievements of the legends of the game from cricket's long and illustrious history". It was launched by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in Dubai on 2 January 2009, in association with the Fe ...

of 9 December 2013. He became the 70th male inductee into the Hall of Fame, joining compatriot

Hanif Mohammad Hanif Mohammad PP ( ur, , 21 December 1934 – 11 August 2016) was a Pakistani cricketer. He played for the Pakistani cricket team in 55 Test matches between the 1952–53 season and the 1969–70 season. He averaged 43.98 scoring twelve ...

and

Zaheer Abbas Syed Zaheer Abbas Kirmani PP, (in Punjabi and Urdu: سید ظہیر عباس کرمانی; born 24 July 1947), popularly known as Zaheer Abbas, is a former Pakistani cricketer. He is among few professional cricketers who used to wear spectacles ...

as well as his former teammates

Javed Miandad Mohammad Javed Miandad PP SI (Urdu: ; born 12 June 1957), popularly known as Javed Miandad (Urdu: ), is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer known for his unconventional style of captaincy and batting. ESPNcricinfo desc ...

and

. On his induction he said: "It's a huge honour for me, I'm truly grateful to the people who've considered me worthy of such an honour."

Controversies

After

beat

for the first time in an ICC tournament (the 2021 T20 WC), Waqar said that 'watching Rizwan do

namaz (, plural , romanized: or Old Arabic ͡sˤaˈloːh, ( or Old Arabic ͡sˤaˈloːtʰin construct state) ), also known as ( fa, نماز) and also spelled , are prayers performed by Muslims. Facing the , the direction of the Kaaba w ...

in front of

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

was very special'. This created an uproar and he later apologized for the comment.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Younis, Waqar Pakistan Test cricketers Pakistan Test cricket captains Pakistan One Day International cricketers Pakistani cricket captains Punjabi people Glamorgan cricketers Karachi cricketers Multan cricketers National Bank of Pakistan cricketers Rawalpindi cricketers Redco Pakistan Limited cricketers Surrey cricketers United Bank Limited cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year One Day International hat-trick takers Pakistani cricket commentators Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup 1971 births Living people Pakistani expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Pakistani emigrants to Australia People from Vehari District Australian people of Punjabi descent Sadiq Public School alumni Pakistani cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Recipients of the Pride of Performance Allied Bank Limited cricketers Lahore Blues cricketers Indian Premier League coaches Sri Lanka Premier League coaches Pakistani cricket coaches Cricketers from Burewala Australian cricket coaches Australian cricket commentators Recipients of Hilal-i-Imtiaz Coaches of the Pakistan national cricket team People from Lahore