Legend · Pakistan

Waqar Younis

Fast Bowler · Right-hand bat · Right-arm fast

789 wickets

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— Career wickets

One half of cricket's most feared pace partnership and the man who weaponised the reverse-swinging yorker.

— Biography

Waqar's legacy

Discovered by Imran Khan from a television highlight reel, Waqar Younis arrived as a teenager and immediately bowled faster, and straighter, than almost anyone before him. His stock ball — the toe-crushing, late-dipping reverse-swinging yorker — became the most feared delivery of the 1990s.

1987–1989
Age 15–18
Discovered by Imran Khan
Born in Burewala in Pakistan's Punjab and raised partly in Sharjah, Waqar Younis was a natural all-round athlete — a runner, javelin thrower and high-jumper — who began as a leg-spinner before the lure of raw pace took hold. After only six first-class matches, fate intervened: captain Imran Khan, unwell and absent from the national camp, caught sight of the teenager bowling on television, then came to the ground to see him finish. On 16 November 1989 — his eighteenth birthday — Waqar made his international debut against India, the very same match in which Sachin Tendulkar first appeared, and announced himself instantly with four wickets that included both Tendulkar and the great Kapil Dev.
1990–1992
Age 18–20
Arrival of the Burewala Express
Sheer speed and a thunderbolt action soon earned him the nickname the "Burewala Express," and English audiences were the first to grasp his class. Playing for Surrey in 1991, he claimed 113 first-class wickets at a mere 14.65 apiece, topping the season's bowling averages while carrying an otherwise modest county attack on his shoulders. The performances were so emphatic that Wisden named him one of its Cricketers of the Year for 1992, a rare honour for so young a bowler. Already he was being spoken of as one of the finest fast bowlers in the world.
1992–1999
Age 20–27
The two Ws at their peak
Alongside Wasim Akram, Waqar formed one of the most feared new-ball partnerships the game has ever seen — "the two Ws" — opening the Pakistan attack throughout the 1990s. His signature was reverse swing bowled at ferocious pace: a late, banana-curving yorker that homed in on the batsman's toes and was, time and again, simply unplayable. The records tumbled at a staggering rate — the fastest man to 300, 350 and 400 one-day wickets, and the only bowler to claim five-fors in three consecutive ODIs. He crowned the decade as part of the Pakistan side that reached the final of the 1999 World Cup.
2000–2004
Age 28–32
Captaincy and a dignified farewell
Leadership had come to him remarkably early — he remains the youngest Test captain in Pakistan's history, having first led the side aged just 22. Handed the captaincy through the 2003 World Cup, he set a benchmark that still stands, recording the best bowling figures by any captain in ODI history with 7 for 36. He drew the curtain on a near fifteen-year international career in 2004, finishing with 373 Test wickets and 416 ODI wickets — 789 at the highest level. His Test strike rate of 43.4 remains the best of any bowler to have taken more than 350 wickets.
2006–2019
Age 34–47
The coaching years
Waqar turned mentor, first serving as Pakistan's bowling coach from 2006 before being appointed head coach in 2010. He guided a young side to the semi-finals of the 2010 World Twenty20 and, at the 2011 World Cup, steered Pakistan to the top of their group and a ten-wicket demolition of West Indies in the quarter-final before a narrow semi-final defeat. He returned for a second spell as head coach and was reappointed bowling coach in 2019, also lending his craft to franchise sides — passing the art of fast bowling to a new generation.
2013 – Today
Age 42 onward
Immortal — and still shaping the game
In December 2013 Waqar was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, joining compatriots Imran Khan, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram among the immortals of the game — and his influence still reaches far beyond Pakistan, with Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga crediting the two Ws for his lethal yorkers. Today he is one of the most in-demand voices in world cricket, bringing his expertise to the commentary box across the Pakistan Super League, the DP World ILT20, the 2025 Asia Cup and ICC global events. In 2024 he was appointed a PCB mentor for Pakistan's domestic competitions, guiding the Lions side and helping develop the next generation of cricketers. Widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers ever to play the game, he remains the very definition of pace, swing and menace — and an active contributor to the modern game.

— In Frame

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— Honours & Records

Career

373 Test wickets

In 87 Tests at 23.56 — reverse swing at its most lethal.

Career

416 ODI wickets

The thunderbolt yorkers of the Burewala Express.

2013

ICC Hall of Fame

Inducted among the immortals of the game.

1992

Wisden Cricketer of the Year

113 wickets at 14.65 for Surrey in 1991.

Career

7 for 36

Among the finest one-day bowling spells ever recorded.

1993

Youngest Pakistan Test captain

Led his country at just 22 years old.

— In Their Words

What the game says about Waqar

“He was certainly the king of reverse swing.”
Kamran Abbasi
Wisden · ESPNcricinfo

“Waqar Younis announced himself as one of the finest contemporary bowlers and hinted that in time he may achieve the greatness which, it seems, has already been thrust upon him.”
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Cricketer of the Year, 1992

— By the Numbers

Matches

Runs

Wickets

Highest Score

— Career Fingerprint