Waqar Younis has been given a yes to manage all the cricketing matters of the Pakistan Cricket Board. But Waqar’s record with PCT suggests the opposite.
Waqar Younis, the former fast bowler known as Burewala Express is making a comeback in PCB following his resignation as Bowling Coach post 2019 World Cup. Waqar Younis met the PCB chairman on Monday to discuss his role in the PCB circuit. Reports suggest that he will be handling the matters in place of Mohsin Naqvi and will report directly to the chairman.
As we know, Mohsin Naqvi the PCB chairman is also the interior minister of Pakistan and in the future, he will also become the ACC president for 2025-27. So to cut off some duties from Mohsin Naqvi, Waqar Younis will this time be the all-in-all of the Pakistan Cricket Board after Naqvi.
Career of Waqar Younis as a Player
Waqar Younis has been the fastest bowler in the history of Pakistan Cricket and has taken over 750 wickets across formats for Pakistan. He debuted for Pakistan in the 1980s and introduced the reverse swinging ball with his fast paces and toe-crushing Yorkers. He was also made the captain of PCT in 2001 but the performances of the Pakistan team in that era were shocking as they were bowled out for 59 and 53 vs Australia. Under Waqar’s Captaincy, PCT was outclassed in the World Cup as well.
Struggling to find a place in the squad Waqar Younis announced his retirement in 2004. His New Era with PCT started in April 2006 when he first became the bowling coach of the Pakistan Cricket Team.
Coaching Career of Waqar Younis
Waqar Younis was first handed the role of a bowling coach of PCT in April 2006. And his last services were from 2019-2021. Seeing Naqvi decide to put Waqar in charge again. Let’s have a look at Waqar’s tenure with the Pakistan Cricket Team.
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Starting of a New Era (06-07)
Waqar Younis was named the bowling coach for the Pakistan cricket team in 2006–07 after he retired. Pakistan participated in the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy during his term, upsetting many supporters by finishing bottom of their group. In addition, Pakistan was charged with tampering with the ball during an England Test series. He lost his position as bowling coach amid this affair.
Australian Massacre (09-10)
Waqar Younis was named the bowling and fielding coach for the Pakistan Cricket Team for their tour of Australia at the end of 2009. Waqar’s brief tenure with the national team came to an end as Pakistan was thoroughly defeated in the three-match Test series, five-match ODI series, and one-off T20I, marking the conclusion of the tour.
Win % of 28 as a Head Coach (10-11)
For the third time in six years, PCB employed Waqar Younis once more in 2010 as the Pakistan cricket team’s head coach, this time.
The PCT played 10 Test matches during his time as head coach, winning just two, drawing two, and losing six. Furthermore, of the 18 Test matches that were played, only 5 ended in wins or draws– the other 13 games resulted in losses, further hurting Pakistan.
Apart from the Test matches, Pakistan participated in 18 Twenty20s and won just 6, disappointing the supporters once more. In summary, Pakistan participated in 41 games that year and only managed a meager 28% victory percentage, winning 13 of them.
In 2011, Waqar Younis resigned from his position as head coach of Pakistan, citing personal reasons. However, there were rumors of internal discord within the team, especially between Waqar and Shahid Afridi.
Disappointing World Cup Campaign (14-16)
In May 2014, Waqar was named head coach once more. Pakistan had a poor bag of results throughout these two years, including a disastrous World Cup effort in the 2015 ODI World Cup.
In 2016, Pakistan suffered a humiliating group-stage defeat in the T20 World Cup after exiting the ODI World Cup in the quarterfinals. Waqar resigned a few weeks after this catastrophic campaign, having held the post for only around two years.
The main reasons for his resignation were reported to be political pressure from the PCB higher-ups and reports of disruption in team harmony, most notably with Umar Akmal.
One Last Time (19-21)
In 2019, Waqar Younis was selected as the bowling coach for a three-year term, alongside Misbah-ul-Haq, the head coach. Pakistan performed poorly once more during that time, and the fans were incensed as their country was eliminated in the 2019 World Cup’s group stages in England.
Unrest returned as a result of Pakistan’s subpar performance and political unrest in the PCB. Waqar and Misbah stunned everyone by announcing their resignations just before the 2021 T20 World Cup, which Pakistan was greatly anticipating.
The resignation from Waqar Younis and Misbah were not welcomed this time as people expected more from them. They should’ve shown some responsibility before the World Cup 2021. But apart from that issue, Pakistan did well in that World Cup reaching the Semifinals.
Is it a good decision to appoint Waqar Younis again?
Seeing the track record of Waqar Younis with the Pakistan Cricket team, no one would ever be suggesting again to appoint Waqar Younis as a head coach or a bowling coach. It’s not actually about his abilities to outperform, it’s about his capacity to adapt with players behaviors and ways of playing. Let’s hope this tenure of Waqar won’t hurt Pakistan as much as it did before.
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