Waqar Younis

Waqar Younis Maitla (born November 16, 1971) is a famous Pakistani cricketer from Burewala, Punjab.He attended Pakistani College, Sharjah and Government College, Vehari. Playing as a fast bowler, he took 373 Test wickets and 416 wickets in One-day Internationals. He debuted for Pakistan against India on November 15, 1989. It is noteworthy that Sachin Tendulkar debuted in the same match. His most lethal weapon was the in-swinging yorker, which he managed to produce at will and with a high degree of accuracy, as experienced first-hand by plenty of county batsmen who were unfortunate enough to face him at his peak.

Waqar formed one half of the famous fast bowling partnership with Wasim Akram. At his peak, most were of the view that there was no better bowler, especially with regards to wicket-taking ability and being penetrative. He has one of the highest strike rates of all time. This was mainly that he attacked the stumps and not the batsmen himself. Much was expected from him but he stayed out of the team for quite a long time to do his talents and fans justice because of his controversial conflicts with once bowling partner and captain Wasim Akram. His comeback, however, came with him being appointed the Captain of the national side – which he remained so till his side failed to make an impact in the 2003 World Cup. He was forced to retire as the Pakistan Cricket Board persistently ignored him for national selection.

He is now married with a son and a daughter. Recently, he has become a television cricket commentator for Australia's Nine Network since a series against Australia and Pakistan.

Waqar Younis is cited alongside Wasim Akram, Alan Donald and Glenn Mcgrath as the most lethal as well as fastest bowlers of the last decade. Although there is nothing dubious about the stature enjoyed by Donald and Mcgrath, but still due consideration needs to be given to the fact that while they played most of their cricket on the fast and bouncy tracks, perfectly conducive to fast bowling, of South Africa and Australia respectively and were also duly backed up by the spectacular fielding of the two teams, Waqar Younis, on the other hand, played most of his cricket on the slow and docile tracks of the sub-continent backed by a fielding that has nothing so distinguished to write about. An astonishing number of Waqar's wickets have been clean bowled or have come from leg-before decisions showing how much he has had to depend on his own efforts to get his batsmen