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Abu Dhabi: Well known for his toe crushing deliveries, Pakistan's fearsome pacer Waqar Younis terrorised batsmen around the world for nearly two decades. He bagged 373 Test and 416 one-day wickets to guide Pakistan to many exciting victories.
Younis talked at length to Gulf News about the decline in the number of real quick pacers and the various factors that have contributed to it.
Gulf News: Fearsome fast bowlers like you are almost on the decline in cricket today. What do you attribute this to?
Waqar Younis: Fast bowling skills around the world have gone down. Except for Bret Lee or Shoaib Akhtar, if he is fit, we do not really see too many fast bowlers.
Most are medium pace or slow medium pace bowlers and this has got a lot to do with the introduction of bio mechanics. Today coaches try to prevent injuries and all of them are being coached heavily.
Fast bowlers are bound to get injured; but these coaches, in order to prevent injuries, modify their bowling actions. As a result, we have more of the medium or slow medium pacers than the genuine quickies.
Does it mean that excess of cricket has no role to play?
I played lot of cricket. Wasim Akram and I played nearly ten years of county cricket and nearly 100 Test matches. True, fast bowlers cannot escape injury but that should not prevent one to try and attempt to bowl fast.
I believe that coaches, by fiddling too much with the bowlers' actions, have wiped out all chances of getting good pacers.
Is Twenty20 also destroying pacers?
Twenty20 has been made for batsmen; in fact I strongly believe that cricket itself is made for batsmen. In Twenty20 it does not matter whether you are fast or slow, all bowlers will be affected.
A bowler gets to bowl only four overs and it does not matter what sort of a bowler he is; and if a batsman decides to go after a bowler there is nothing he can do about it.
Akhtar is injured again? What should he now do at this stage of his career?
Do not forget that Akhtar is 34 years old. These kind of injuries are bound to be there as you get older. If you don't look after yourself and are training hard, then there can be trouble.
I doubt his fitness level now is what it used to be five years ago. That is one reason why he lands up with such small hassles such as a calf muscle injury. He needs to strengthen up a bit and also add a bit more stamina.
He is still a match winner but I don't think he is doing justice either to himself or to his country. After 34 how long can you carry on?
Is Pakistan cricket going through testing times after the exit of Mohammad Yousuf?
I really feel sorry for Yousuf because of the manner in which he left and the fact that he has been sidelined. It's a shame because Pakistan still needs him.
He still has a couple of years ahead of him but he was quite disheartened by the way he was treated by the Pakistan Cricket Board.
The new PCB must sort out the ICL issue and bring back the players. All of them are playing cricket for their bread and butter and it is not right to kick a player out of the national side just because he played in a different tournament.
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