Former skipper Waqar Younus has been appointed bowling and fielding coach for the upcoming Pakistan-Australia Test and One-day International (ODI) series. Waqar Younus, who played 87 Tests and 262 one-day matches for Pakistan until 2004, was also earlier appointed bowling coach in 2006 for a one-year contract. However, Waqar resigned as Pakistan bowling coach in protest when asked to act as coach on the South Africa tour for the Tests only.
A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spokesman said on Wednesday that Waqar Younus had been appointed bowling and fielding coach for the upcoming Pakistan-Australia Test and ODI Series 2009-10. Waqar believes that improvement in Pakistan bowlers is there to be seen. In the upcoming Pak-Australia series, the focus of Waqar would be on fielding, as Pakistan cricket team, during the ongoing Pakistan-New Zealand Test series, showed poor fielding, besides dropping several catches.
Waqar is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He is known for his ability to reverse swing the ball. He has 373 Test wickets and 416 ODI wickets to his credit. Waqar has the best strike rate for any bowler with over 200 Test wickets. Waqar made his debut for Pakistan against India on November 15, 1989. In the same match Indian maestro Sachin Tendulkar also made his debut. Waqar took four wickets, including the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev, in the drawn match.
He made an immediate impression with his pace, and became known in the media as the "Burewala Express". Later, along with Wasim Akram, Waqar opened bowling regularly for Pakistan, becoming a feared and potent attack. His most recognised delivery was an in-swinging yorker. At his peak, he developed into a devastating bowler towards the closing stages of the one-day game, famously taking a hat-trick against New Zealand in 1992.
Waqar holds the record for the best strike rate among bowlers with 200 or more Test wickets. However, Waqar also remained in controversy. During the late 90s, he stayed out of the team for quite a long time allegedly due to conflicts with once bowling partner and captain Wasim. In July 2000, Waqar became the first player to be banned for ball tampering, and was fined 50 percent of his match fee. Waqar is the only bowler to have taken five-wicket hauls in three consecutive ODIs.
He has taken 4+ wickets on 27 occasions in the ODIs, also a record. In terms of balls bowled, he has taken the fastest 50, 300, 350 and 400 wickets in the ODI matches and the fastest 150, 200, 250, 300 and 350 wickets in Test matches. Although primarily a bowler, Waqar scored 1010 Test runs. As of September 2005, Waqar was the only man to pass the 1,000-run mark without ever scoring a fifty. Cricket circles believe that Waqar would have to focus on improving fielding of Pakistan side during forthcoming Pakistan-Australia series.
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