Pakistani Cricket Players: Waqar Younus

Waqar Younus Biography

Source(google.com.pk)

Waqar Younis was born in small city of Pakistan,Vehari 16 November 1971. He was born in a Jatt Muslim family. Waqar was educated in Sadiq Public school in Bahawalpur in Pakistan. The Pakistani college in Sharjah and the Government college in Vehari. Waqar raised in Sharjah in the UAE, where his father was a contract worker. Waqar returned to Pakistan and started playing cricket there during his adolescent years. Waqar is married to D.r Faryal ,a Pakistani Australian. They have a son Azaan Waqar and one daughter Maira Waqar and Waqar now lives in Castle Hill in Australia. He has also worked as a TV sports commentator for the Nine Network in Australia and for Ten Sports in the UAE. Waqar Younis is a famous Pakistani right-hand fast bowler in cricket and widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowler of all time. Waqar holdes the record for the youngest Pakistani test captain and the 3rd youngest test captain in cricket history. Waqar played 87 test matches and 262 ODI matches for Pakistan between his international cricket career from 1989 till 2003. His trademark was his quality to reverse swing a cricket ball at high speed. Waqar took 373 test wickets and 416 ODI wickets during his cricket career. Both with bowling partner Wasim Akram, Waqar formed one of the world's most feared bowling attacks. He has the best strike rate for any bowler with over 350 test wickets. Waqar worked as a bowling coach with the national side from 2006/2007. He was appointed as the coach of the Pakistan cricket team on 3rd March 2010. Waqar resigned as Pakistan's cricket coach on 19 August 2011 citing personal reasons. Waqar joined Sun-risers Hyderabad as their bowling coach for the Indian IPL 2013 season.

Waqar start his cricket career in 1987,88 Pakistan,playing for several 1st-class cricket clubs. However he suffered an injury when he had removed his small finger on left arm,after he had jumped into a cannal. Waqar recovered from this accident and went on to continue his sporting career. Waqar was eventially discovered by famous Pakistan captain, Imran Khan and was selected to be part of the national team. Waqar had played only 6 first class matches when he got picked for the Pakistan camp out of the blue. He says "I remember Imran Khan was not feeling well at the time, and was not present at the come, Luckily the Super Wills Cup was going on, and there was a match between United Bank and Delhi XI. Saleem Jaffar got was injured, and Igor the opportunity to play that match. Imran watched me on TV, and actually came to the ground to watch the end of the match. The very next day, he meeting Imran Khan 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. "

English audiences became aware of Waqar's talent during the early 1990's, when Waqar played for Surrey. By taking 113 wickets in 582 overs for Surrey in 1991, at a mere 14.65 apiece,and by carrying on his shoulders an otherwise moderate county attack, Waqar announced himself as one of the finest contemporary bowlers. There he displayed excellent cricketing performances and attracted attention from the sporting public. Waqar went on to win the English county championship with Glamorgan in 1997. Waqar took seven wickets for 25 vs Lancashire at Liverpool on 21 June 1997,which included a hat-trick achieved after narrowly missing a hat-trick earlier in the innings. He made his international cricket start for Pakistan vs India on 16 November 1989, in the same match that Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar made his start. He took four wickets in the drawn match including the wickets of Tendulkar and Kapil Dev. Waqar made an immediate impression with his speed and became known in the cricket media as "Wiki"or "Burewala Express". He along with Wasim Akrm 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 also became popular for achieving a hat-trick in a ODI match vs New Zea-land in 1994.

Between 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 Wasim Akram. Waqar return to cricket came with him being appointed the captain of Pakistan cricket team. However, he had to deal with allegations of ball-tampering and a number of controversies. In July 2000 He was banned for ball tampering and was fined 50% of his match fee. Waqar was involved in further controversy between 2003 World Cup matches. IN the opening match VS Australia, he was removed from attack after bowling a beamer at Andrew Symonds, becoming to 1st bowler to be disciplined in such a way between an international match. The Pakistanis then crashed out of the group stage after winning only 2 matches, both against associate member teams. After the tournament he conceded the captaincy and was dropped from international selection. After a nearly fifteen year cricket career,He announced his retirement from cricket altogether in April 2004.

In March 2006, Waqar was appointed as the bowling coach for Pakistan. Waqar resigned from this position on six January 2007 in pretest against the Pakistan cricket board decision to retain him only for the test series vs South Africa and not for the subsequent series of 5 ODI matches. Waqar was re-appointed as Pakistan's bowling and fielding coach for their tour of Australia in December 2009.

He made his International cricket debut for Pakistan against India on 15 November 1989, in the same match that Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar also made his debut. Younis took 4 wickets in the drawn match including the wickets of Tendulkar and Kapil Dev. He made an immediate impression with his speed and became known in the cricket media as "Wiki" or the "Burewala Express". Younis along with Wasim Akram opened the bowling attack regularly for Pakistan, becoming a feared and potent attack. His most recognized delivery was an inswinging yorker. At his peak, he developed into a very quick fast bowler and also became famous for achieving a hat-trick in a One Day International match against New Zealand in 1994. He won the English County Championship with Glamorgan in 1997. 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 Wasim Akram. His return to cricket came with him being appointed the captain of Pakistan, a position he held until his team failed to make an impact in the 2003 Cricket World Cup. He retired from cricket in 2003 after the Pakistan Cricket Board persistently ignored him for national selection.

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 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 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 was sacked as coach, due 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 Yousuf and Shoaib Malik to the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 as a consolation though Waqar had two top-notch bowlers in Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif at his disposal. He guided the defending champions to the semi-final of the tournament before the were knocked out by Australia courtesy of a superb 60* by Mike Hussey who whacked three sixes in the final over to seal the victory.

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 it was Shahid Afridi who scored 112 to nearly guide Pakistan to victory. In the following match Pakistan lost narrowly against India courtesy of a six by Harbhajan Singh an 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

After this 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. Ironically the previous victory in 1995 was also courtesy of a superb bowling spell by Waqar Younis.