Waqar Younis the sultan of swing

 

Waqar Younis alongwith his bowling partner Wasim Akram were known as the Sultan's of Swing. Waqar Younis was renowned to bowl inswing, outswing, off cutters and leg cutters and yorkers at will all at very high speeds. Waqar Younis used to bowl reverse swinging toe crushing yorkers which used to prove deadly and unplayable deliveries to not only tail enders but also to world class batsmen.

Both Wasim and Waqar used to win matches against the opposition which Pakistan were sure to lose only for Wasim and Waqar to bowl the opposition out and rescuing Pakistan by winning the matches for them in such tight situations. Wasim Akram was known to get the top order out regularly while Waqar Younis was known to get middle order and tailenders out regularly with his pace and reverse swing. Wasim Akram was known to get the batsmen out with new ball while Waqar Younis was expert with the old ball reverse swinging the old ball at high pace to bamboozle the batsmen. 

Waqar Younis took 373 test wickets and 416 ODI wickets to become one of the top wicket takers for Pakistan in their international cricket history. One regret Waqar Younis will always have throughout his career will be that he never was in the winning team for Pakistan in any ICC event or ICC tournament. He missed the 1992 World Cup with injury which ironically Pakistan won under Imran Khan's captaincy. 

Waqar Younis after his retirement after the 2003 World Cup in South Africa a tournament in which he was captain became coach of the Pakistani cricket team several times. He is currently the bowling coach of the Pakistan cricket team.

Pakistan Cricket team in the Calendar Year 2020

 Pakistan cricket team reasonably did well in 2020. They performed well in Twenty20 internationals by winning 7 matches and losing just 3 with one ending in no result. Although the series wins came against weak teams like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and they failed to win against stronger teams like New Zealand and England series wise. I would still say Pakistan performed better in Twenty20 cricket in 2020 as compared to 2019. I am saying this because Pakistan lost to a lowly rated Sri Lanka whom not only sent their second string team to Pakistan in 2019 but was a team missing several key players. Losing to that Sri Lankan team was very disheartening for Pakistan cricket and Pakistani fans. Although in 2020 Pakistan performed better losing the series only against New Zealand 1-2, and drawing with England 1-1 besides winning against infact clean sweeping Bangladesh 2-0 and also white washing Zimbabwe 3-0. whereas in 2019 Pakistan hardly won any series and were defeated badly by the opposition seeing their ranking drop from first to fourth in ICC rankings.

Pakistan started 2020 seventh in ICC rankings and finished seventh in the ICC rankings by the beginning of 2021. In five test matches Pakistan won just one test match against Bangladesh and lost two, one against England and one against  New Zealand and drew the remaining two test matches against England. Pakistan should have won the first test match against England in Manchester when having set a target of 278 they let England win by three wickets as Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes helped England to recover from 112 for 5 to 258 for six. By that time both Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes had scored centuries and they proved match winners for England's unlikely victory. If Pakistan had won that test match they might have gone on to win that series as the last two test matches were rained off. The fault that I found with Pakistani batsmen in tests in 2020 has been their overly defensive batting. Pakistani batsmen dont look for scoring opportunities as a result opposition bowlers find a way to get them out. 

In ODI's in 2020 Pakistan won two matches and lost one, all against Zimbabwe. The third ODI ended in a tie after full fifty overs with Pakistan losing the match in super over. I dont know why Babar Azam didnt bat in the super over as Khushdil Shah and Iftikhar Ahmed were sent in as a result we lost that match when both these batsmen got out cheaply to Zimbabwe bowler. 

Overall it was a successful year in Pakistan cricket with Pakistan having a positive winning percentage in Twenty20 internationals and ODI's.

Abdul Razzaq a fine Pakistani All rounder

 If any Pakistani cricketer who was ever to be unfairly treated by the PCB it has to be Abdul Razzaq. Abdul Razzaq was at one time in 2010 was becoming an even better all rounder than Shahid Afridi. This can be proven by his match winning century in an ODI against South Africa which was miraculously won by Abdul Razzaq's clean striking of the ball when he literally won the match single handely smashing South African bowlers all over the ground. Pakistan won that match by just one wicket after being set a target of 280 plus by South Africa, thanks to Abdul Razzaq. After the end of 2011 World Cup Abdul Razzaq was hardly selected in the team with Afridi especially giving the reason that Razzaq's bowling was becoming exceedingly slow. It was true that Abdul Razzaq was losing pace but he could have been selected as a  batting all rounder given his great big hitting ability. 

Abdul Razzaq made an immediate impact at the 1999 World Cup with his great All round ability with both bat and ball. As a batsman he was coming at No. 3 in batting order and played useful knocks in that position by seeing off the new ball and making it easy for the rest of the batting as in England batting becomes easier as the ball becomes older when it starts swinging less. As bowler he was bowling big inswinging deliveries at high pace making it difficult for opposition batsmen to score runs and picking up useful wickets. Abdul Razzaq played a vital role in Pakistan reaching the finals of that 1999 World Cup and was the find of the tournament for Pakistan.

The tournament which bought Abdul Razzaq instant fame was the Carlton and United Series in 2000 featuring Australia and India other than Pakistan. Abdul Razzaq's great all round performances with both bat and ball brought him the man of the tournament award in that triangular series in Australia.

Abdul Razzaq will always be remembered for his great all round ability with both bat and ball that made him a successful all rounder and also for rescuing Pakistan a number of times with his match winning performances with both bat and ball. He also played a vital role in Pakistan winning the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup by opening the bowling alongwith Mohammad Amir in that World Cup. If he wasnt treated poorly by PCB who knows he might have played beyond his retirement in 2014.

Shoaib Akhtar the Fastest bowler in the history of cricket

 I am a Pakistani and I am proud to say that Shoaib Akhtar has the world record of bowling the fastest delivery in international cricket. The delivery that he bowled against England in a pool match in 2003 World Cup at 161.3 Kilometers per hour was the fastest ball ever delivered in history of International cricket. Shoaib Akhtar was even quicker than Jeff Thomson and Brett Lee of Australia as can be judged by the comments of a Bangladeshi cricketer Alok Kapali who said that Shoaib Akhtar is so quick we use to fear he would kill one of our batsmen with his pace and we could hardly see any of his deliveries.

Shoaib Akhtar immediately made an impact after his debut in 1997 against West Indies when he bowled Pakistan to a memorable victory at Durban in the second test match against South Africa which also happened to be Pakistan's first test victory against South Africa. Shoaib Akhtar took five wickets in the first innings of that test match which was instrumental in Pakistan winning that test match held at Durban in 1998 against South Africa. 

The tournament which instantly made Shoaib Akhtar famous was the Asian test championship match in 1999 in Kolkata when Shoaib Akhtar clean bowled Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar of consecutive deliveries. Those deliveries of Shoaib Akhtar which he clean bowled Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar was regarded as the balls of the Twentieth Century as those bowls were bowled with extreme pace with huge late reverse swing. Pakistan not only went onto win that test match against India but also went onto win the test championship by defeating Sri Lanka at the Final at Dhaka in 1999.

Shoaib Akhtar played a vital role in Pakistan reaching the finals of the 1999 world cup which was held in England. In that World Cup Shoaib Akhtar not only bowled the ball at extremely high speeds but also swung the ball a great deal as English conditions are tailor made for swing making Shoaib Akhtar a lethal bowler. 

Shoaib Akhtar missed a lot of international cricket because of injuries as who knows he might have taken as many wickets as Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis if he had played more cricket. After playing the 2011 World Cup in India and Sri lanka and helping Pakistan reach the semi finals of that World Cup Shoaib Akhtar retired from all forms of international cricket. Shoaib Akhtar will always be remembered not only in Pakistani cricket but in international cricket history as the fastest bowler ever to have played cricket.

Pakistani Legend Saeed Anwar

 No Pakistani cricketer was ever as talented and was as perfect timer of the cricket ball as Saeed Anwar. Saeed Anwar in his playing days was ranked as talented and as gifted as Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar. The Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail opening partnership was ranked as the best opening partners Pakistan has ever had. One can notice that they were the best as Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail literally silenced the Bangalore crowd in 1996 World Cup Quarterfinal when Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail smashed Indian  bowlers to all parts of the ground amassing 80 runs in the first 10 overs of the Pakistani innings. Had Saeed Anwar stayed on for a little longer who knows Pakistan might have won the match and give the Indians a huge scare in the 1996 World Cup Bangalore Quarter final but that was not to be as Pakistan chasing a huge Indian target of 288 runs could manage only 248 runs in 49 overs in that World Cup Quarter Final.

Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail partnership was unique as Saeed Anwar was usually the aggressor while Aamir Sohail was more subdued and watchful. Saeed Anwar was always more talented than Aamir Sohail and had a tremendous talent and hand eye coordination than Aamir Sohail who was less talented than Saeed Anwar and had to play risky shots in order to hit boundaries. On the otherhand Saeed Anwar was more talented and hitting boundaries came easy to him.

In the 1999 World Cup Saeed Anwar hit two consecutive centuries against Zimbabwe and New Zealand to help Pakistan reach the final. Saeed Anwar hit a vital century against Zimbabwe who were proving to be dark horses in the tournament as Pakistan reached the semi final after defeating Zimbabwe in their final Super Six match. Pakistan had lost to both South Africa and India in Super Six of the 1999 World Cup tournament so defeating Zimbabwe was important for Pakistan to reach the semi finals and Saeed Anwar  helped Pakistan reach the semi finals by scoring a century. After pairing up with Wajahat Ullah Wasti, Saeed Anwar scored another century and helped Pakistan reach the finals after defeating New Zealand. In the final Saeed Anwar failed and so did the rest of Pakistani batting line up and Pakistan were defeated by Australia in the 1999 World Cup Final.

In 2003 despite scoring a superb century against India in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa Saeed Anwar retired from all forms of cricket after the disastrous Pakistani campaign in 2003 World Cup. Saeed Anwar will always be remembered as the best Pakistani opening Batsman of all time.

Pakistan-India Cricket rivalry

 There have been many rivalries between cricket playing nations. Of all the cricketing rivalries the rivalry in cricket between England and Australia also known as the Ashes and India-Pakistan rivalry are the most famous. I will consider India-Pakistan rivalry as more interesting rather than England-Australia Ashes rivalry. Unlike England-Australia rivalry the India-Pakistan rivalry is more intense because of the political tensions between the two countries. 

In the three formats of the game Pakistan's has a better overall record than India in tests and ODI 's. India only has a better record than Pakistan in Twenty20 internationals overall. In tests Pakistan has won 12 test and India has won 9 tests, in ODI's Pakistan has won 73 matches and India has won 55 matches. In Twenty20 Internationals India has won 6 matches and Pakistan has won one match. 

Pakistan has literally dominated India in ODI's especially after Javed Miandad s six off Chetan Sharma in Austral-Asia Cup in 1986. Pakistan kept on dominating India in the 1980s and 1990's until the retirement of Wasim Akram , Waqar Younis and Inzamam ul Haq. After the retirement of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Inzamam India has now started catching up with Pakistan and has narrowed the gap of wins and losses with Pakistan. 

India has now started playing Pakistan in only ICC and ACC tournaments and they no longer play Pakistan in a bilateral series. The government of India doesnt allow India to play Pakistan in a bilateral series because of political tensions between the two nations. Also because the Indian government is now led by Narendra Modi who is an Hindu extremist and Hindu Nationalist. 

Pakistan has always come into form whenever it plays India so Pakistan's loss is greater as compared to India if India doesnt play Pakistan. I wonder why India is so scared in playing Pakistan in a bilateral series although India at present has a formidable team. I truly wish India doesnt mix politics with sport and plays Pakistan in the near future.

Pakistan is a successful cricket playing nation

 Pakistan has always done well in cricket although hockey is Pakistan's national game. Pakistan has always had a positive winning ratio throughout their history as their international record suggests. In test Pakistan has 138 wins and 131 losses, in ODI's Pakistan has 486 wins and lost 413 times and in Twenty20 Internationals Pakistan has 93 wins and 56 losses. This shows that Pakistan has constantly been a successful cricket playing nation and they have shown consistency in their performance throughout their history.

In test cricket Pakistan was briefly ranked no. 1 in test cricket under Misbah ul Haq's captaincy. In ODI cricket Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup under Imran Khan's captaincy and were runner's up in 1999 World Cup under Wasim Akram's captaincy. In recent past Pakistan won the Champions trophy in 2017 under Sarfraz Ahmed captaincy. In twenty20 cricket Pakistan won the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup, and were runners up in 2007 twenty20 World cup and semi finalists in 2010 and 2012 twenty20 World Cup's.

Of all the three formats of the game Pakistan has been most consistently successful in Twenty 20 Internationals as compared to ODI's and test match cricket. This is because Pakistani batsmen have always focused on hitting the ball and going for big shots instead of batting cautiously and watching the ball closely. Also because Pakistani bowlers have always been hard to hit because of fast bowlers giving hard ball to batsmen and their spin bowlers turning the ball hugely. 

Nevertheless Pakistan has always been a tough opponent for their opposing teams in cricket in any format because of their huge talent and huge and tremendous talent base in all aspects of the game whether it being batting, bowling or fielding.