Waqar Younis - the greatest exponent of ‘Banana Swing’ - Part 2 - Opinion
Continued from Part 1...
In his prime, Waqar could do what other bowlers could not. Not many of his bowling spells went for much, which stands in stark contrast to other bowlers like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shoaib-Akhtar-c90080, who could be milked for plenty on an off day. Batsmen, who did have the audacity
to hit Waqar for boundaries or the odd six, would often find themselves in a quagmire in the face of a bloodthirsty monger, yearning for revenge. Stumps being uprooted or batsmen being snared LBW on a swinging delivery, were sights which Waqar Younis and fast
bowling fans bayed for. It was seldom that he disappointed or did not have it his way.
As a case study, the career of this legendary fast bowler is probably more remarkable in light of the fact that he has performed at his best against some of the top teams in the world. Many of his match winning spells had come against teams such as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746
and South Africa, who had dominated ODI cricket for over a decade. His impact could be felt on any wicket as well. In the Test match arena, Waqar could take wickets on bone dry surfaces such as Colombo, as well as ruffle the batsmen on the hard pitches of
Bridgetown and Perth. One of his most notable performances however, was when he managed to single handedly bowl South Africa out for just 247 and bagged a historic victory for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 on a placid wicket.
It was the Coca Cola Cup of 1999-2000, and the triangular series in the Emirates was being contested by Pakistan, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 to tussle it out against one
another in the desert heat. In the final, Pakistan managed only 263 in their fifty overs, and needed something special to ensure that the Proteas were rolled over. Waqar then unleashed a fiery spell of bowling as he snared four important wickets to deny South
Africa the Coca Cola Cup. Had it not been for those crucial dismissals, which included the wicket of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lance-Klusener-c72175, South Africa wouldn’t have been bowled out for 247, and could have knocked down the remaining 16 runs with ease.
Some patches were purpler than others for Waqar. Perhaps his best bowling spell came against Australia at Nottingham in 2001. Chasing 291 for victory, Waqar made sure that Australia were denied even a whiff of the total. He picked up http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mark-Edward-Waugh-c74603, Matthew
Hayden and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andrew-Symonds-c44611 smashed the Pakistani bowlers around.
Waqar tore through the lower middle order and made the ball swing prodigiously under the Nottingham sky. One of the images of that game, and of the summer, was when he uprooted Brett Lee’s off stump, after the latter hit him for a six. Pakistan eventually
won the game by 36 runs, with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Waqar-Younis-Maitla-c96193 picking up six wickets. In the early 2000s, he was the most dangerous fast bowler on the international circuit.
An unsuccessful captaincy campaign is the only real criticism on a player like Waqar. Yet if one is to put aside the 2003 debacle, he was by a distance the best right-arm fast bowler that Pakistan had ever produced. The term ‘banana swing’ came into the
cricket dictionary largely because of Waqar producing nothing short of magic with the ball in his hand.
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