Waqar Younis-lengendry Pakistani bowler
One of the best bowlers ever, Waqar Younis is a former Pakistani right arm fast bowler who was born on November 16, 1971 in Vehari, Punjab. His full name is Waqar Younis Maitla. He was an extremely successful reverse swing bowler. Waqar is one of those bowlers who were capable to bowl deadly yorkers with devastating effects! This outstanding bowler initially studied at the Sadiq Public School, Bahawalpur. Later on, he acquired his higher studies from the Pakistani College in Sharjah and the Government College in Vehari.
The master of reverse swing made his debut in international cricket on 15 November 1989 against India. Within no time, he gathered every one’s attention due to his pace, speed and accuracy. In 1994, he also managed to achieve a hat trick in a one-day international match against New Zealand. The pacer made his test debut in the same year against India at the National Stadium Karachi. He was a wicket-taking bowler, highly penetrating and had the tendency to aim for the stumps. Waqar is the only bowler who has taken 5 wickets in consecutive three ODI’S. However, in spite of all these qualities, he had a serious problem with respect to consistency in his bowling.
Waqar Younis played more than 200 One-day International matches and has taken 416 wickets with an average of 23.84. He had an economy rate of 4.68 in ODI’S.Where as out of the 87 Test matches that he played, Younis took 373 wickets with an average of 23.56.Waqar remained out of the team for a number of times due to certain controversial conflicts with his captain Wasim Akram. However, he made a come back to lead the national team but failed to produce the desired results particularly in the 2003 World Cup and so the legendary fast and attacking pacer retired in 2003 from international cricket. For his sporting achievements, he has been awarded the “Wisden Cricketer of The Year” Award in 1992.
Waqar Younis has recently been appointed as the head coach of the Pakistan cricket team after being whitewashed during the tour in Australia. The fast bowler has replaced Intikhab Alam, who has been appointed as the director, cricket academies. With his appointment, he now has become the fourth coach of the team in three years. His first assignment as a coach was to prepare the players for the World Twenty20 crown in the Caribbean, West Indies. However, the Pakistani team failed to defend their title despite of all the hard work. Even then, the entire nation is hoping to see the Pakistan cricket team back on track as soon as possible. In an interview, Waqar assured the people of Pakistan that he would not disappoint them, as he is fully aware of the sentiments and emotions of the cricket lovers in our country.
The question that arises is that will he be able to come up to the expectations of the cricket board, management and most importantly the cricket lovers all over the country? Will he be able to come up to the level of the players while keeping his own ego aside like a good coach? Will he be able to move the things in the right directions? Majority of the players in the Pakistani cricket team are young so he has to work really hard to groom and polish the young talent, more particularly for the 2011 World Cup. Hopefully things will get better with his appointment as coach of the Pakistan cricket team and soon our team will be back in action.
Waqar Younis has worked with Pakistan Cricket team on two previous occasions as a bowling coach but this would be his first official role at any competitive level. He was appointed as a bowling coach for Pakistan in March 2006. Then afterwards, during Pakistan’s tour to Australia in 2009, he was reappointed as Pakistan's bowling and fielding coach. Teams are not built just on talent but what is more important is the utilization of that talent with a positive approach towards cricket. The entire nation is hoping for the correct nurturing of this talent under the coaching of our legendary bowler Waqar Younis.
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