Waqar Younis

Waqar Younis Maitla HI (Punjabi, ; born 16 November 1971) is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer who captained Pakistan national cricket team.

A right-arm fast bowler, he is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in cricket.

He is the former head coach of the Pakistani cricket team.

As of 2021, Younis holds the record for being the youngest Pakistani Test captain and the fourth youngest Test captain in history (22 years 15 days).

Younis began his cricket career in 1987/88 in Pakistan, playing for several first-class cricket clubs.

However he suffered an injury in which he lost the 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."

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 second best strike rate, after Dale Steyn, for any bowler with over 350 Test wickets.

He is the youngest bowler to take 400 wickets in ODI cricket.

He is also placed in the top ten of all time based on ICC rankings.

Younis made his International cricket debut for Pakistan against India on 16 November 1989, in the same match that Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar made his debut.

Waqar 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".

English audiences became aware of Waqar's talent during the early 1990s, when he played for Surrey.

By taking 113 wickets in 582 overs for Surrey in 1991, at a mere 14.65 apiece (thereby topping the season's first-class bowling averages), and by carrying on his shoulders an otherwise moderate county attack, he announced himself as one of the finest contemporary bowlers.

There he displayed excellent cricketing performances and attracted attention from the sporting public.

He went on to win the English County Championship with Glamorgan in 1997.

He took 7 wickets for 25 against Lancashire at Liverpool on 21 June 1997, which included a hat-trick achieved after narrowly missing a hat-trick and took 68 wickets in the season.

Since 2000 he is married to Faryal, a Pakistani-Australian doctor, the family residing in Castle Hill, New South Wales, in Australia.

They have three children, two daughters and a son.

Younis has worked as a television sports commentator for the Nine Network in Australia and for Ten Sports in the United Arab Emirates.

He worked as a bowling coach with the national side from 2006 to 2007.

Waqar was appointed 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.

On 4 September 2019, Younis was appointed by the PCB as Pakistan's new bowling coach on a 3-year contract.

He replaced Azhar Mahmood, who was sacked after Pakistan's disappointing performance in the ICC World Cup 2019 tournament.

Younis was born in Burewala, Vehari district, Punjab, Pakistan to a Punjabi Jat family.

He had studied in Sadiq Public School, Bahawalpur, Pakistan, the Pakistan Islamia school in Sharjah and the Government College in Burewala, Pakistan.

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 used to travel to Burewala to play cricket which garnered him the nickname of the Burewala Express.

During his school and college days he was what he himself calls an all-round athlete, being a runner, a javelin thrower, a high jumper and a pole-vaulter in different competitions, initially being a leg-spinner before choosing pace bowling.