This will make Waqar’s fans’ very happy 
http://www.gupistan.com/gallery/1/fm22-15.jpg
When in 1989 Waqar Younis made his Test debut against India, in Karachi, he was immediately dubbed as the fastest bowler in the world, although then Malcolm Marshal was still around. More unique was the fact that Waqar, who had been handpicked by Imran, hadn’t even played any first-class cricket and had successfully made it to the Test team. Thereafter, he along with Wasim formed a formidable new ball pair which is still considered by some, the best in the world.
Waqar’s consistency at bowling swinging yorkers has propelled him to the heights of cricket greatness. It is a very difficult task to bowl so many yorkers as the delivery can turn into a full-toss if there is any waywardness on the part of the bowler. Such is the reputation of Waqar, that the batsmen who fell victim to his unadulterated swinging balls, were soon labeled **‘Waqared’. **
Seventy-five per cent of Waqar’s victims were LBW victims. This is proof of his self-reliance. He has taken the bulk of his wickets without any assistance from fielders. This fact in itself speaks volumes about the bowler and underlines the importance of keeping the ball within the stumps. All budding youngsters should take cue from this. :biggthumb:
Sarfraz Nawaz was the pioneer of reverse swing bowling and he passed on the tips to Imran. He in turn taught the art to his protegees, Wasim and Waqar. Amongst all of them, Waqar has been the best exponent of reverse swing as indeed he has been amongst all bowlers in the world. The importance of reverse swing can only be dilated upon when one stresses the importance of swing off the new ball which is natural as the ball is firm and glossy. It is a period which most batsmen dread and as such two specialist openers are sent out in the beginning of the innings. Their primary job is to see off the new ball and in the process, survive and thereafter to score. The batsmen ease up after the shine has gone and then the tempo is set for a high score. The least that a batsman wants till the second new ball is due, is to see the old ball do tricks. It is extremely disconcerting for him to see the old ball moving around like a yoyo and this is what Waqar gets from the best exponent of the art of reverse swing.
What is highly commendable is that amongst all the leading wicket takers in the game, Waqar has the best strike rate of 42.41. In other words he has, on an average taken a Test wicket after every 42 balls bowled. His nearest rival is the late Malcolm Marshall with a strike rate of 46.42. The bowler with the third highest strike rate is Glen McGrath with a figure of 50.23, considerably behind Marshall and way behind Waqar. The bowlers who rank number four and five are Richard Hadlee and Dennis Lillee with figures of 50.88 and 52.10 respectively.
**Another criterion for evaluating a bowler is his Test average and in that category Waqar stands fifth after Marshall, Ambrose, Hadlee and Imran. Imran is number four with an average of 22.81 and he is closely followed by Waqar with an average of 22.94. As such Waqar figures in both the lists of the world’s top five bowlers whereas Imran figures in one. ** :kaboom:
Another landmark for Waqar is that he reached 350 wickets with the least number of balls - 14928. Marshall who is after him on the list achieved the feat in 16340 balls. In other words Waqar bowled 235 overs less than Marshall to reach the milestone. Glen McGrath who is third on the list attained the feat in 17581 balls or 442 overs more than Waqar. Richard Hadlee is fourth and Dennis Lillee fifth with 17858 and 18288 balls respectively.
Our own Wasim Akram has bowled 601 overs more than Waqar to reach the milestone of 350 wickets whereas Walsh has bowled 918 overs more and Warne 1248 overs more. **As such Waqar stands out as a giant amongst all the bowlers and one can imagine where he would be in terms of wickets if he had bowled as much as the other prominent bowlers. **
**It is an honour for any bowler to be in all three lists and indeed it can be called an elite club whose members are Waqar, Marshall and Hadlee. It is worth mentioning that Waqar and Lillee were the quickest in the world to reach 200 Test wickets and both of them accomplished this feat in 38 Tests. Amongst Pakistanis, Waqar was the quickest to reach the 300 wickets club with 65 Tests and he was followed by Imran with 68 and Wasim with 70. Waqar has so far played 79 Tests and has taken 355 wickets with a career best haul of 7-76. He has taken five wickets in an innings on 22 occasions and 10 wickets in a match on 5 occasions. In One Day Internationals, he has taken 390 wickets. As far as his captaincy record is concerned he leads from the front and has an incredible 80 percent success record. He has led the country 10 times in Test matches with 8 wins and 2 losses. However, some of those victories have been against easier opposition like Bangladesh and West Indies. In the first Test he played as a captain, against the Carribeans, at Sharjah he took a calculated gamble while declaring and Pakistan romped home to victory. That was a very shrewd decision. Pakistan also won the second Test played at Sharjah. **
Toward the mid-90s, Waqar led the players revolt which toppled Wasim Akram from captaincy. When Wasim regained the captaincy, Waqar was kept out of the Test side for almost two and a half years - and that too in the prime years of his career. It was a very sad reflection on the state of affairs and Waqar publicly blamed Wasim for ruining his career. Whenever he was played he was used very sparingly. On the last Test tour of Australia, a situation arose where a tremendous partnership was building between Pointing and Hayden in one of the Tests. Wasim tried various ploys to break the partnership but finally had to toss the ball to Waqar. He delivered the breakthrough on the fourth delivery of the over. The ball was pitched way outside the off-stump and Ricky Ponting coming out on the front foot left the ball very confidently with the bat held high in the air. There was a great measure of pomp and style in the way he left the delivery. The ball dipped in sharply and took with it, his off-stump. It was great sight and brought back memories of Imran’s dismissal of Vishwanath at Lahore in a similar manner.
Astonishingly, Waqar was immediately taken off on completion of that over. Had Waqar not been sidelined for two and a half years in his prime, he would probably have surpassed the tally of 400 wickets. However, he continues to bowl splendidly and is giving his best as always. His aim is to go well past the mark of 400 wickets, and he may yet end up as Pakistan’s leading wicket taker in both versions of the game.
