It was one of the best series I can remember. The tow W’s had England tied in a knot and their batsman were afraid of facing these two awesome bowlers. The reverse swing was troubling them so much that in the end the English media started accusing the two W’s of ball tampering.
His toe crusher was very famous in the English county circuit and players used to ask each other “Have you been Waqared?” That is a great tribute to a very great bowler.
and that match ni sharjah against south africa…
was in the late 90s…
waqar was in full flow then…
this is the match i am talking about…
but the whole series was wonderful…
for one delivery which took boucher’s stumps out, imran khan said “i dont know how he bowled this one, i myself cud never have bowled such a delivery”…
armughal bhai, I saw that match as well. Boucher was going great guns when Moin brought Waqar back. Then some fielder dropped Bounher on the boundary. Boucher proceeded to hit Waqar for a six and maybe some more. Then Waqar produced that inswinging yorker. It was a pretty damn good delivery but I don't think it was anywhere close to the yorkers he bowled earlier in his career.
But what needs to be appreciated and commended is his temperament in that match and throughout his career. He didn't get fazed at all by the occasion. The shoulders didn't drop. The batsman was given a life, and then made the most of it but Waqar still came back and knocked him over. This man had the heart of a champion.
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Glade you mentioned ! 
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Yes Faisal ! If PCB can do this , it would b wonderful. I have my gut feeling that this would happen :insha: After all PCB is using Aqib Javed.
*well he had the chance to prove himself for a year.. he was not he once was.. and a true sportsman should admit to that fact rather than not except change
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With Waqar, we most proabably going to miss another legend.... yes Saqlain Mushtaq.... i cant see any way if he will be returning now :(
TESTS
49 Matches, scored 927 Runs, 1 X 100 and 2 X 50 , 208 wickets with the average of 29.83, 13 times 5 or more and 3 times 10 or more wickets in a match, 8-164 is his best.
ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS
169 Matches, scored 711 Runs, 288 wickets with the average of 21.78, 11 times 5 or more wickets in a match, 5-20 is his best.
" He also holds the unique distinctions of reaching 100 and 150 wickets in Tests in the shortest time, as well as taking the highest number of wickets in a calendar year in ODI's "
"Saqlain belongs to that rare category of spin bowlers who have claimed hat trick in One-day cricket on not one but two occasions"
dont know about PCB but we should not lose him so easily ...... Bad patches do come but that doesnt mean to ignore such a talent so easily..... i am sad about it :(
no wonder that 92 Series of England was one of the best you could ever see. I remember that once he bowled another tow cruchser to Lara as well (in karachi or some where in paksitani) in which Lara jumped over the ball jsut to save his foot, and in the course lara fell down on all squares. Those sights were the sights of the life of any one. I my self have seen waqar from his start till the end… and its true, if any one has missed it, then they ahve missed a great deal…
So long Waqar, thanx for being so entertaining and thanx for being just a wonderfull bowler to watch. I havent seen any bowler like him so far in my life. All i feel is that Imran Khan or Allan Donald was a close match to him otherwise I dont think there was any one like him.
In the match u mentioned, Im more surprised about the 123 opening partership between Nazir and Afridi :eek:
I grew up watching wasim and Waqar wiping away the oppisitions in matter of overs. My first memory of waqar was Austrailshia cup final in 1990. He dismissed Dean Jones and Alan Border on successive delivers and paved the way for Wasim akram to compelte his unforgettable hattrick.
In 1991 october, Pakistan was playing a do or die match against WI in sharjah. Richi Richardon was playing like a man possessed and almost threw pakistan out of the Sharjah cup when Imran brought Waqar back. In matter of overs, Waqar turned the match. In last over, WI needed 9 runs and 8 off 4. Bishop hit an incredible six off Waqar and WI needed 2 off 3. But waqar bowled with extreme pace and intelligence, Bowed bishop on the last delivery to seal an incredible one run victory and pakistan went on to win the trophy.
This, and many more matches won single handedly by Waqar, will remain in my and for that every Waqar fan's memory forever. I, can never get over these two greats and if i live long enough to hae kids and grand kids, i will be proud to tell them that i have seen Waqar bowling at his very best (just like our buzurgs tell us about Holding, Croft, Hadlee)
Thank you for all the victories and laurels you brought for Pakistan. Best of luck with the future.
It was a usually hot day in Sharjah and all roads east of Wahda street were empty. Everybody was headed west and we were stuck in traffic just like everybody else. Richard Coram had just announced on 92 FM that the lunch interval was over and second innings was about to start.
My cousin and his buddies were discusing strategies, the outcome of the game and dropping names I had never even heard of. One of them mentioned that a local boy who had played at Sharjah College was going to play today. And then of course, there was talk of Imran Khan. Besides Imran's name, everything else seemed alien to me. This was my very first cricketing experience, hadn't even seen the game on TV.
As soon as I entered the gates, a huge roar went up and after dying down, among the ooh-s, aah's and shabashes it was heard that some new guy had just beaten Desmond Haynes by sheer pace. After climbing up the steps and into a seat I finally got to see what a cricket field looked like. But why were 10 or so men dressed in all-whites moving around slowly and noone making a move? arrey, had the game ended? Some were talking, others standing with hands on their hips. Suddenly the dude with the funny afro and big chains started a light jog which turned into a full-fledged run within a second. He was now charging in the direction of the other guy with a bat in hand, determined and eyes on fire.
But why was he running from such a long way and where was he headed?
After winning the match for Pakistan in dramatic fashion that day, it became quite clear: He was headed for greatness.
From a nation that has so much to thank you for all you did over the years, here's wishing you all the best Waqar bhai. It was a privilege.
great accounts, guys. loved reading them.
My memory of Waqar:
Generally people tend to remember legends for the moments where they stood tall like the champions they were. But the most striking memory of Waqar for me was in a losing cause.
The match was the final of a Sharjah tournament staged either just before or just after the 1996 World Cup. Pakistan compiled a modest total against some disciplined Sri Lankan bowling. For the majority of the Sri Lankan inning, the Sri Lankan batsmen were in control and looked set to overhaul the target easily. And as usual Pakistan's legendary fast men started a late inning collapse. Eventually, Sri Lanka only had one semi-recognized batsman in the form of Upal Chandana at the crease. Our bowlers took the match to the last couple of overs - something that looked improbable earlier. Waqar started one of the last overs (or maybe even the kast, last over - I don't remember) with Sri Lanka needing a very manageable last 6-8 runs.
Pak fans prayed for a miracle knowing full well that if there was a man who could deliver it, it was this man - Waqar Younis. He raced in, gave it his everything, and bowled a blistering yorker. The ball swung in towards the batsman while it was airborne. And then it swung away. The ball snaked left and right all in the same, one delivery. It seemed as if there was a string attached to the ball even after it had left Waqar's hand which he pulled and tugged at as he wished to. Chandana managed to put bat to ball somehow, it raced away for a four and Sri Lanka won.
But to this day, I'm convinced that the batsman had no clue where the ball was or how he managed to hit it. We lost the match, the tournament and the trophy but the little piece of magic that I saw that day from Waqar, our man of steel, I have not forgotten almost ten years on. :)
Waqar brings down the curtain
Anand Vasu in Islamabad
April 12, 2004
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Waqar Younis faces the press for the last time as he announces his retirement © Getty Images
Waqar Younis Maitla, the man they called the Burewala Bomber, has announced his retirement from international cricket in a simple function organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board, ahead of the third Test between India and Pakistan at Rawalpindi. “I could have still played for one more year,” said Waqar, reading from a written statement, “but the hunger was gone and after talking to my wife and family I decided that it was the right time to say goodbye and start a second innings.”
He was relaxed, casually turned out in a figure-hugging brown T-shirt. “This is the first time I’m coming to a press conference without any pressure on me,” he began. “Whatever I am today is only because of cricket. It’s just a game but also a lifestyle. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs, several injuries and lots of happy memories.”
After 15 years of international cricket, beginning with the Karachi Test against India in 1989, where he took 4 for 80, Waqar has come a long way. In his early days his toe-crushing yorkers put the fear of God into batsmen. But, he was just as dangerous many years later, even after his pace and youth had deserted him. A master of conventional and reverse-swing bowling, Waqar ended with 373 wickets from 87 Tests at 23.56 and 416 wickets in 228 one-dayers. He was one half of the feared two-Ws partnership alongside Wasim Akram, and was gracious enough to concede: “I got more than 50% of my wickets of my wickets because Wasim was bowling at the other end. He was a big help and support, the burden was always shared.”
Waqar brushed aside the controversies of match-fixing and ball tampering, but admitted he had a few regrets in his career – including being let down by several teammates in the 2003 World Cup. “I trusted the wrong people,” he said, refusing to elaborate, simply saying that he would reveal all in his forthcoming autobiography. Missing the 1992 World Cup because of injury and not playing enough Test cricket against India at his peak were the other big regrets he spoke about.
But the regrets were a sideshow. Waqar preferred to recall his great spells, including his 7 for 36 against England at Headingley in 2001 , which remains the best one-day bowling by a Pakistani. But, Waqar admitted that the wicket that gave him most pleasure was that of Ajay Jadeja. “After being smashed around in the 1996 World Cup by him, every time I got Jadeja, that was the ultimate.”
When Waqar and Wasim first demonstrated their ability for prodigious reverse-swing, there were immediate allegations of ball-tampering from the cricket world. Waqar admitted that this hurt him. “The whole world knows how it is done. But, just because Wasim and I did it successfully it doesn’t mean it is easy. We had to work really hard to master it. The allegations of ball-tampering did hurt, but the great Geoffrey Boycott paid us the ultimate compliment when he said we could have bowled out England with an orange. We always had the talent and I am only glad that what was then called ball-tampering has now been given universal approval with the name reverse-swing.”
When asked whether injuries ruined his chances of taking 500 wickets, Waqar was phlegmatic. “Injury is part of a fast bowler’s life, I can’t say I would have taken 500 wickets if I had not been injured and missed so many matches. I believe in destiny and luck and am pretty pleased with whatever I achieved.” And, what Waqar achieved will take some emulating. “I want to be remembered as a decent cricketer,” he concluded. “Whenever they talk of reverse-swing they’ll talk of me – that’s a great achievement.”
© Wisden Cricinfo Ltd
i will miss u man waq’ wat ever u choose to do with ur life all the best bud’ :flower1:
and who can forget the tradition that waqar started for the pakistani team captain to start his words with "thanks to the Almighty Allah...."....
inzi seems to have picked it too and hope it stays....
If there was a Hall of Fame for cricket legends, I would certainly like to see Waqar there, perhaps in his Waxed clone dummy in Londons famous Wax museum would be more in order. London’s wax museum did pay tribute to legends of , Kapil Dev / Imran Khan.
Waqar has 4 fingers and a partial remains of little finger on his bowling hand, thus truely a bowler with natural abilities to control and do wonders with the ball such as reverse swings. Still he was a good athlete and a joy to watch with his fielding and agility.
Ps : Bowlers be warned, amputation of of limbs can not gurantee you to become Waqar type bowler. 
hellfire, more important was the good start they gave to Pakistan and it was also the final. It was very useful and Pakistani bowlers defended it very well.
a sad ending of a great cricketer - so long Waqar 
Thanks again Waqar the Great!! Many Shoaib's Lees will come but the kind of terrorizing spells you produced at almost your own will, will always remain in pakistani's memory.
^ well said.
When Waqar and Wasim first demonstrated their ability for prodigious reverse-swing, there were immediate allegations of ball-tampering from the cricket world. Waqar admitted that this hurt him. “The whole world knows how it is done. But, just because Wasim and I did it successfully it doesn’t mean it is easy. We had to work really hard to master it. The allegations of ball-tampering did hurt, but the great Geoffrey Boycott paid us the ultimate compliment when he said we could have bowled out England with an orange. We always had the talent and I am only glad that what was then called ball-tampering has now been given universal approval with the name reverse-swing.”
:k: