Waqar Younis

Waqar Younis Maitla is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer who captained the Pakistan national team, born on 16 November 1971 in Vehari, Punjab. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time. ^{1 2 3}

His trademark was his ability to reverse swing a cricket ball at high speed, with late inswinging yorkers that earned him the nickname "Toe Crusher". He took 373 Test wickets and 416 One Day International wickets, formed one of the world's most feared bowling attacks with his partner Wasim Akram, and is the youngest bowler to take 400 wickets in ODI cricket. ¹

Younis was born in Burewala, Vehari district, Punjab, to a Punjabi Jat family. He was raised in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, where his father worked, and returned to Pakistan and started playing cricket there in his adolescent years. He studied at a boarding school in Lahore for some three years before joining Sadiq Public School, Bahawalpur, and later Government College, Burewala, studying arts and economics. In his school and college days he was an all-round athlete — a runner, javelin thrower, high jumper and pole-vaulter — and was initially a leg-spinner before choosing pace bowling. ¹

The museum records his family life only in outline: he married Faryal, a Pakistani-Australian doctor, in 2000, the family resides in Castle Hill, New South Wales, in Australia, and they have three children. ¹

He began his career in 1987/88 playing for several first-class clubs in Pakistan and got his break with the Multan under-19 team. He lost the little finger on his left hand after jumping into a canal, recovered, and was eventually discovered by former Pakistan captain Imran Khan, who selected him for the national team after only six first-class games, having watched him on television in a cup match, come to the ground to watch its end, and told him the next day that he would be going to Sharjah. ¹

English audiences became aware of his talent when he played for Surrey: by taking 113 wickets in 582 overs in 1991 at 14.65 apiece, topping the season's first-class bowling averages, he announced himself as one of the finest contemporary bowlers. He went on to win the English County Championship with Glamorgan in 1997, taking 68 wickets in the season including 7 for 25 against Lancashire with a hat-trick. ¹

He made his international debut against India on 16 November 1989, in the same match in which Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar made his debut, and took four wickets including those of Tendulkar and Kapil Dev. He became known in the cricket media as the "Burewala Express". With Wasim Akram he opened the bowling attack regularly for Pakistan, becoming a feared and potent attack, and at his peak he took a hat-trick in an ODI against New Zealand in 1994. He has the second-best strike rate, after Dale Steyn, of any bowler with over 350 Test wickets. ¹

He captained Pakistan — as of 2021 he held the record as the youngest Pakistani Test captain and the fourth youngest in history, at 22 years and 15 days — and was part of the squad that finished runner-up at the 1999 Cricket World Cup. After a brief period out of the team in the early 2000s, his return came with his appointment as captain. He finished as Pakistan's second-highest Test wicket-taker with 373 wickets and announced his retirement from cricket altogether in April 2004, after an international career of nearly fifteen years. ¹

This section is reported from the sources and is not a verdict by the museum. The article reports that in July 2000 he was banned for one international match and fined 50% of his match fee for ball-tampering, the first cricketer banned from a match for such an incident; that in Pakistan's opening match of the 2003 World Cup against Australia he was removed from the attack after bowling a beamer at Andrew Symonds, the first bowler disciplined in that way during an international match; and that after Pakistan crashed out of the group stage he conceded the captaincy and was dropped from selection. ¹

He was appointed Pakistan's bowling coach in March 2006 and resigned in January 2007; re-appointed as bowling and fielding coach for the December 2009 tour of Australia; appointed head coach in March 2010, guiding an inexperienced team to the semi-finals of the 2010 World Twenty20 and the 2011 World Cup before stepping down in August 2011 citing personal reasons. He joined Sunrisers Hyderabad as bowling coach for the 2013 Indian Premier League season, was reappointed Pakistan head coach for a second spell in May 2014 and resigned in April 2016, and was reappointed Pakistan bowling coach for a fourth time in September 2019 after the 2019 World Cup. He has also worked as a television sports commentator. He was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1992. ^{1 2}

His public significance lies in his standing among the greatest fast bowlers in history, his mastery of reverse swing at high speed, his partnership with Wasim Akram, his record as the youngest bowler to 400 ODI wickets, and his later work coaching his national team as head coach and bowling coach in several spells. ¹

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