Waqar Younis hopes to bury World Cup nightmares with a win in 2011
He is regarded as a legend of the game, a fearsome fast bowler who made batsmen hobble with his searing pace and reverse swing. Yet Waqar Younis has a very rocky relationship with the biggest tournament in international cricket, the
ICC World Cup.
He had to bow out of the ICC World Cup 1992 at the eleventh hour due to a back injury and watched from his home in Lahore as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Imran-c64193 Khan’s men annexed the title in an action packed evening at Melbourne. The 1996 edition had his stamp
all over it as he made life difficult for all teams that came across Pakistan in the group stage. That all changed in a matter of minutes as Ajay Jadeja tore into him in the quarter-final match at Bangalore and Pakistan crashed out of the tournament.
In the 1999 edition he featured in only one match, the game was against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 and a dysfunctional team bowed out in the
first round of the event, with Waqar’s career ending with a dismal loss to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
Now eight years later he is the coach of the national team and pinning his hopes on his team, which is a blend of experience and youth, to deliver for him and end his miserable World Cup memories. He thinks that there is enough youth
and spark in his team that can cause jitters in any camp. He has high hopes from opening batsman, Ahmed Shehzad, who has been in impressive form of late.
He thinks that Shehzad and Wahab Riaz are the two players that will be the livewires for his team, especially in crunch situations. Younis also thinks that every team should have a player like them on their side and Pakistan is lucky
to have two in their ranks.
He recently told reporters, "We too have such players like Ahmed Shehzad, who has played two very good knocks, and I hope that Umar Akmal, another youngster, can come good here. Younis [Khan] is in good form. We have Wahab Riaz, who
we hope will do well”.
Meanwhile, the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391 last year. That carried on for a while and Younis pointed
out that the team did fairly well in all assignments under him. He mentioned the performance of the team in the Asia Cup, World Twenty20 and then even in England where they fought every inch but missed out on chances at crucial junctures of the game.
That all changed in the series against the Kiwis earlier in the year and Younis thinks that the performance against them will hold the team in the right frame of mind when they start their campaign in the sub-continent. He commented
on that series, “Eventually we started finishing in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 and yes, it is something which you can improve. Even I go out and learn something new from a youngster in cricket every day, so we are on a learning curve. We have learnt how to finish and make
sure we don't get to the situation in the first place where the game gets tight."
The first test for Younis and his men is the match against the lowly Kenyans at Hambantota on the 23rd of February. The Burewala Express has his sights on big things in this tournament and the Rhodesians will have to bear the might of the green
brigade.
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