By Nadeem
November 7 2003

Regular contributor to Pakpassion Nadeem writes his personal tribute to Waqar Younis who will of course be remembered as one of the finest bowlers ever to play International cricket. It is the start of the 1991 county cricket championship. Mr. X from county Y looks out of the pavilion and says to his captain:-
"Guv, this pitch is easy as you like. Good on ya winning the toss mate. I am gonna plunder me a century on this batsman's paradise". He chuckles heartily as he tucks into his sizeable egg and bacon breakfast.
Fifteen minutes later, he is on the ground opening the inning for his side. " Oi Stewie who's the new lad u got bowling at me. I am gonna eat him up for brunch".
Alec Stewart, Surrey's keeper looks at him and says "Haven't you eaten enough already?"
A young Pakistani lad of 19 or so is limbering up near the boundary line. He is 6 ft tall and looks athletic. He takes the new ball. The umpire says "Play". The boy runs in, rather sprints in, in a manner not seen before on the county circuit. He reaches the crease with his galloping sprint, leaps up in the air and explodes into his whippy bowling action. The momentum of this is such that his muscular body is hurled several metres towards the hapless batsmen after completion of his action. The ball itself is doing it's own thing. First, it decides to travel in the air at 95 mph towards the second slip. Two-thirds of the way it changes it's mind and heads for the middle stump, breaks it into half and travels all the way to Stewart. Alec Stewart is stunned. He picks up the ball and looks at it again to gather his senses. Meanwhile, our batsmen X departs to the pavilion wearing an equally confused look and getting vexed to Alec Stewart's jibe "Enjoy your brunch mate". The young bowler completes his celebrations with his teammates. He starts to walk back and suddenly smiles and looks back in reply to the mid-off fielder's remark "Kill him Waccaa".
Waqar Younis, at his peak was a bowling phenomenon, the likes of whom had never been seen before. Born in 1971, this Punjabi lad will be remembered in the annals of cricketing history as the originator, creator, introducer and pioneer of reverse swing bowling. He was drafted into the Pakistan team when Miandad saw him bowling in the nets. He was impressed by his extreme pace and firm control. The rest as they say is history. The sheer sight of a young Waqar tearing into opposition was enough to make you wonder with awe how far would the "Burewala express" go.
From 1989 to 1991, he cleaned up sides, county and international, with his toe crushing yorkers delivered at extreme speed. Waqar and Wasim were, at this point, the most feared pair of fast bowlers in history. They had learnt the tricks of the trade very well from their mentor, the great Imran Khan. The world cup was around the corner. Surely, Imrans tigers were going to win it. Surely, Waqar was going to dazzle the billions watching with his brilliance. Yes, Pakistan did win but sadly Younis was sidelined by injury. This injury was the biggest anti-climax that one could imagine. One can understand the bitter disappointment only when we can fathom the kind of impact Waqar Younis had made on the cricketing bowler. Here was a young man of 20 who by dint of his sheer talent had transformed into a destructive force of nature. His 20 five-fers and almost 200 wickets in his first 33 tests combined with a strike rate of under 30 give you only a glimpse into this man's talent.
The post world cup Waqar appeared with a metal plate in his back and a world of determination in his heart. Pakistan played 5 tests against England in England. Waqar demolished the English batting that summer. He had lost a bit of pace yet he was quick enough for any one brave enough to face him. His inswinging yorker was doing all the talking when people were writing him off. Pre-world cup, Waqar Younis remains the fastest bowler I have ever seen. Martin Crowe, one of the best batsmen of pace bowling of all time(alongwith Mohinder Amarnath, Viv Richards, Inzamam etc) testifies to this day that game still hasn't seen a bowler faster than the pre-1992 Waqar Younis. His pace, in this series, was diminished(still bowling in the 93 to 96 mph range) but the variety, swing, venom and downright aggression was all there.
He went on to take over 350 wickets in tests at the lowest strike rate of all time. In a word, this sort of a record is "awesome". But, if one wants to see the impact he made on the cricketing world from 1989 to 1992 I would recommend to study his bowling archives. Waqar, in his pomp, was THE DESTRUCTIVE FORCE of cricket. His speed, aggression, inswing were only magnified in the mind of the opposition by his mere presence. He was menacing in the truest sense of the word. He never resorted to bouncing people out but his skill, speed, swing and ferocity was enough to put the fear of God into the opposition. The focused, hawk-eyed, muscular and primed waqar younis will be forever etched in our memories for his singular quality of terrorising batsmen the world over with his missiles. The crouching, sprinting, enraged, adrenalin charged Waqar younis will never be forgotten. He defined fast bowling in the mid 90's. He was cricket for millions from 1989 to 1992. He was synoymous with his sport. He was one of the most devastating sportsmen of his era alongwith Tyson, Lomu, Ronaldo and Michael Johnson.