The Legend Waqar Younis by Irfan

This is an article that Irfan wrote in December 2003 about his favourite cricketer.

A great read for those of you who never read it first time around and for those of you have already seen this, well worth a second look.

There have been many outstanding fast bowlers throughout the last thirty years or so. The likes of Lillie, Thomson, Marshall , Holding, Imran Khan, Ambrose and Wasim Akram have each been at the forefront of the fast bowling world in their respective eras. These men epitomised fast bowling and their records reflect their talent and their mastery of this fine art. These men had a huge impact on the game but none of these bowlers had such a huge initial impact on the cricketing world and cricket fans than Waqar Younis. In a short space of time Waqar Younis captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of cricket lovers with his sheer destructive fast bowling, the like of which had rarely, if not ever, been seen before. As he burst on to the international scene in late 1989 the cricketing world had no choice but to sit up and take notice. Ever since that day fast bowling would never be the same again.

Waqar Younis was born on the 16th of November 1971 in Vehari , a small village in Punjab Pakistan. Having moved to Sharjah with his family at a very young age, Waqar would be taken by his father to the national stadium each time Pakistan came to play. He would fight with other youngsters just to get autographs from his “heroes “Javed Miandad and Imran Khan. His love for cricket had just begun.

At the age of 12 he returned to Pakistan and began school there. Here he would excel in athletics and nurtured into a fine young athlete. Waqar took a keen interest in cricket and loved to bowl and in particular loved to bowl fast, older members of local cricket teams were amazed and it was not long before word got round about a “a young kid who bowls like a bullet” . The buzz began to gather momentum and thereafter Waqar became a permanent member of the Multan Division team.

During this time Pakistan cricket had unearthed Wasim Akram , a young lanky fast bowler who had built up quite a reputation in the cricketing world. The then captain Imran Khan was in search of “fresh new talent” and he would regularly visit teams in various Pakistan districts. Imran and vice Captain Javed Miandad would both share these chores and were confident in spotting potential new talent. It was not long before they came across something extraordinary.

It was the day of the District club final where Waqar Younis and his Multan team were in action. The match was televised in Pakistan and Imran Khan was also watching on TV. As soon as Waqar bowled his first delivery, Imran was hooked. Imran had no hesitation in calling in this young fast bowling “sensation” into the national team. It was a temptation which could not be resisted by Imran. Waqar would be selected for the first test match in Karachi against India, which would be played fron the 15th to 20th November 1989. Pakistan had unearthed a potentially fast bowling sensation. Imran had gambled on the youngster. A nation buzzed with anticipation.

Waqar went on to make his debut on the 15th of November. He was incredibly fast. The cricketing world had not seen this sort of pace since the Thomson and Marshall era. Millions of Pakistanis and cricket lovers would just switch on their TVs to get a glimpse of this “sensation”. They would not be disappointed. In the 19 overs which Waqar bowled at India, he took 4 wickets for 80 runs. A hostile spell of relentless fast bowling. Waqar bowled thunderbolts after thunderbolts. There were two significant deliveries in that Indian innings. Waqar bounced a young Tendulkar and bloodied his nose. The delivery was too much for Sachin and it was too fast to be avoided. Sachin had been hit on the nose by Waqar and he was bleeding heavily. To Tendulkars credit he battled on but then Waqar produced a delivery which would soon become his trademark for years to come. The “inswinging yorker”, the world had not seen anything like this before. Sachin had been cleaned up by Waqar. It was the beginning of an era, it was the making of a legend.

Immediately Waqar was labelled a “typhoon” by commentators. “A star for many years to come” they cried. Waqar did not disappoint. He had his own agenda. He wanted to be “the best fast bowler in the world”. Waqar lived up to his words. Like a lone wolf he would hunt down and then hurt his prey Like Mike Tyson all he needed was just one body blowing punch. An astonishing percentage of his victims were either clean bowled or lbw. He went on to rule the cricketing world and had earned a place in the hearts of millions of fans.

Waqar was the driving force of cricket and Pakistani cricket in particular. He ruled the 90s. “The fastest bowler I have ever faced” yelled Martin Crowe. “Waqar is a phenomenon” praised Sunil Gavasker.

Surrey county cricket club were quick to sign Waqar. He rewrote county record books. He stormed his way to 100 wickets in his first season.
His victims would quiver in the boots the night before facing Waqar. Their toes and ego’s were at risk. “Waqar is only human” they would say in order to comfort and brace each other. But this sentiment would change after they faced him. He was too much for them. He was too much for international batsmen.

By the time of early 1992 Pakistan had found a truly destructive bowling pair in Waqar and Wasim. All the plans were set out for the 1992 world cup. Waqar and Wasim would destroy the batsmen and the Pakistani batsmen would knock of the runs. Sadly tragedy struck. Waqar was diagnosed with a stress fracture of the back and had to miss out the 1992 world cup. The nation was in tears. Waqar was distraught. Pakistan however, did go on to win the cup, thanks mainly to am inspired bowling spell from Wasim Akram in the final.

After the world cup Waqar was back. His will and hunger was as strong as ever. He picked off where he had left off from before his injury. He went onto cause havoc I the minds and careers of international batsmen for many more years to come. His bowling speeds were being clocked at 95 mph, this was remarkable considering his near paralysing back condition.

Waqar and Wasim destroyed England in 1992. Waqar in particular was unleashing his inswinging yorkers at will. The English media filled back pages on articles and theories about how Waqar could generate his pace, and fittingly attaching the phrase “Waqared” to the English batsmen. This phrase went on to become one of the best loved cricketing terms and a fitting tribute to Waqar’s genius. Waqar went on to destroy side around the world. Fans would marvel at his genius and cricketer would be in awe over his unique ability to clean up sides at will. Fast bowling had become exciting again. Waqar along with Wasim introduced reverse swing in the 90’s. An art first made famous by Pakistani greats Sarfraz Nawaz and Imran Khan. Waqar and Wasim were light years ahead of their bowling peers. Batsmen just could not play reverse swing and Waqar would bamboozle them with this art along with his pace and accuracy at aiming at batsmens toes.

The early 90s and mid 90s belonged to Waqar and Waqar alone. His name in record books was assured and millions of bowlers around the world copied and idolized him. He would become an inspiration for bowlers like Darren Gough and Shoaib Akhtar and many Pakistani street kids would copy Waqar’s flawless action religiously.

1995 proved to be a setback year for Waqar Younis. His recurring back problems re emerged and he had to sit out the year. On his return in 1996, in true Waqar style he took apart the English again. His 93 mph inswinging Yorker which effectively destroyed Greame Hicks England career lives long in the memory. He was back with a vengeance. He was snapped up by Glamorgan and helped them win the county championship.

Sadly internal politics and player grudges kept Waqar out from the Pakistan team from 1997 to 1999. It caused a massive outcry considering the fact that Waqar was back to his best and still bowling at a pace close to 92 mph. Waqar was hurt and took out his frustrations in an infamous press conference. His fans felt cheated and deprived of his magic and rightly so. The way this bowling great was treated was unfair and without reason. Waqar would have the last laugh though.

Waqar never gave up. Back injuries had cut down his pace but with sheer grit and determination Waqar fought his way back into the team. He had become a more technical bowler and had added a menacing outswinger to his armoury and now concentrated on out foxing the batsmen. This spectacularly worked as he let out all of his tricks in his book at the Indian’s in The Sharjah cup final in 1999/2000. His comeback performance earned him the man of the match award. He outfoxed the Indians with superb controlled bowling.

Things would get better for Waqar. He was made captain of the team in 2001 and embarked on his third tour of England. On a personal front it was a success as he went on to record the second best one day figures of all time 7/36 against England at Headingly 2001. His critics were silenced. His amazing controlled swing bowling was too much for the English. Physical demands of being a venomous fast bowler had naturally taken its toll on Waqars distinguished 11 year career at the time, but he had matured and developed into a wonderful controlled swing bowler and went on to become Pakistans highest wicket taker from 2000 to 20002.

Waqar was removed as captain after the 2003 world cup. Pakistan had been below par and exited from the tournament early. After the world cup Waqar returned to county cricket and became Warwickshire’s leading wicket taker. Considering the fact that he only played half a season this was a remarkable achievement.

It remains to be seen if Waqar makes a return to the national team and whether he gets the opportunity to get a final crack at the Indians.

Even if he is not chosen Waqars legend is assured amongst millions of cricket lovers. His contribution to cricket and fast bowling in particular is immense. When he does finally leave the game he will be sorely missed. Waqar Younis’s don’t come around every year and when they do come we have to consider ourselves fortunate to have enjoyed and watched such phenomenons.

Waqar Younis you will never be forgotten."

A reminder to you all that there is a whole host of articles written by PPers in the articles section which can be found here :-

http://www.pakpassion.net/content/category/1/2/2/

A fantastic article.

I feel the same, Waqar at his prime was too good.
Just goes to show how good he was (by attaining a substantial amounts of wickets) especially since he had many injury problems.

Fantastic Article

Poor Waqar Younis he could have taken more wickets than any bowler in test or odi cricket, he was just amazing. I would definetly put him on the list of top 10 bowlers the world has ever seen.

Many thanks to brother Saj for adding my article and thanks to all that enjoyed reading it.

Inshallah I will work on a new article (not about Waqar : ) ) soon. Hope you guys enjoy that too.

As I have told yoy many times Irfan, thats a brilliant article and one of the best I have read on the great legend Waqar Younis. He is my favourite bowler of all times and I wish I could write like you as I wouldn't mind having an article like that on Javed and Imran.

Brother Fessel many thanks for the kind words, it's people like you that really provide the motivation to write such articles. There is no secret to writing a good article...you just need alot of heart and passion...which you have in abundance.

I promise you that I will begin working on a new article, quite possibly on Javed. I'm quite busy right now so I get very little free time but I will work on it soon inshallah.