Pakistani Cricket Players: Waqar Younus

Waqar Younus Biography

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Waqar Younis Maitla is a former Pakistani right-arm fast bowler in cricket and widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. Waqar is current coach of Pakistan Cricket team.

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). He played 87 Tests and 262 One Day International (ODI) matches for Pakistan during his international cricket career from 1989 to 2003.

Younis' trademark was his ability to reverse swing a cricket ball at high speed. 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.Younis has the best strike rate for any bowler with over 350 Test wickets. He worked as a bowling coach with the national side from 2006 to 2007. Waqar was appointed as the coach of the Pakistan cricket team on 3 March 2010. He resigned as Pakistan's cricket coach on 19 August 2011 citing personal reasons.He joined Sunrisers Hyderabad as their bowling coach for the Indian Premier League 2013 season. Younis was born in Vehari, Punjab in a Jatt Muslim family in Pakistan. He was educated in Sadiq Public School in Bahawalpur in Pakistan, the Pakistani College (Pakistan Islamia Higher Secondary School) in Sharjah and the Government College in Vehari. He was raised in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, where his father was a contract worker. He returned to Pakistan and started playing cricket there during his adolescent years.

He is married to Dr. Faryal Waqar Younis, a Pakistani Australian. They have a son Azaan Waqar and daughters Mariam and Maira Waqar and now live in Kellyville in Australia. Younis has also worked as a television sports commentator for the Nine Network in Australia and for Ten Sports in the United Arab Emirates. He is 6 feet exact.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, 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. 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."Younis 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 Younis having the ability to bowl inswingers and outswingers in the cricket pitch and in effect both Younis and Akram became successful in taking wickets by this variation of swing bowling. His fastest delivery in cricket was 153 km/h or 95.1 mph, a delivery he bowled against South Africa in 1993.

He was also effective in the use of bouncers or short pitch deliveries; Younis' bowling against South Africa in Sheikhupura in Pakistan, is remembered for his effective use of the short pitched delivery.Despite his qualities as a fast bowler, he was expensive at times and sometimes lacked the consistency of bowlers such as West Indian fast bowler Curtly Ambrose and Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath. This may be partly due to the mentality of his former captain, Imran Khan, who prioritised aggression and speed.

Younis was awarded Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1992 for his sporting achievements. He is also the only bowler to have taken a 5 wickets in an innings in 3 consecutive One Day International matches. He has taken a 5 wicket hauls on 13 occasions in One Day International matches.

Although primarily a fast bowler, Younis 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.

Younis holds the record for the best strike rate for any bowler with over 200 Test wickets.

In July 2000 Younis became the first cricketer to be banned for ball tampering and was fined 50% of his match fee.

There has been some controversy about his date of birth and age. According to ESPN cricinfo sports, Younis was born in 1969 and others including Yahoo! Cricket and Cricket Archive claims he was born in 1971.