Waqar Younis

At 52 years old, Waqar Younis has this physical status:

Younis began his cricket career in 1987/88 Pakistan, playing for several first-class cricket clubs. However he suffered an injury when he had cut and removed his little finger on his left hand, after he had jumped into a canal. He recovered from this accident and went on to continue his sporting career. He was eventually discovered by former Pakistan captain, Imran Khan and was selected to be part of the national side. He had played only six first-class games when he got picked for the Pakistan camp out of the blue. Waqar says "I remember Imran was not feeling well at the time, and was not present at the camp. Luckily the Super Wills Cup was going on, and there was a match between United Bank and Delhi XI. Saleem Jaffar got injured, and I got the opportunity to play that game. Imran watched me on TV, and actually came to the ground to watch the end of the game. The very next day, he met me and told me that I will be going to Sharjah next month. Just meeting Imran at the time was enough of an experience for me, but for him to notify me of my selection was just out of this world."

English audiences became aware of Waqar's talent during the early 1990s, when he played for Surrey. By taking 113 wickets in 582 overs for Surrey in 1991, at a mere 14.65 apiece (thereby topping the season's first-class bowling averages), and by carrying on his shoulders an otherwise moderate county attack, he announced himself as one of the finest contemporary bowlers. There he displayed excellent cricketing performances and attracted attention from the sporting public. He went on to win the English County Championship with Glamorgan in 1997. He took 7 wickets for 25 against Lancashire at Liverpool on 21 June 1997, which included a hat-trick achieved after narrowly missing a hat-trick and took 68 wickets in the season.

Younis made his International cricket debut for Pakistan against India on 16 November 1989, in the same match that Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar made his debut. Waqar took 4 wickets in the drawn match including the wickets of Tendulkar and Kapil Dev. He made an immediate impression with his speed and became known in the cricket media as "Wiki" or the "Burewala Express". Waqar along with Wasim Akram opened the bowling attack regularly for Pakistan, becoming a feared and potent attack. At his peak, he developed into a very quick fast bowler and achieved a hat-trick in a One Day International match against New Zealand in 1994. During the early periods of 2000, he stayed out of the Pakistan team for a brief period allegedly due to suspension and conflicts with bowling partner and captain Akram.

His return to cricket came with him being appointed the captain of Pakistan. However, he had to deal with allegations of ball-tampering and a number of controversies. In July 2000 Waqar was banned to play in an international match for ball tampering and was fined 50% of his match fee. He was the first cricketer to be banned from playing in a match for such incident. He was involved in further controversy during 2003 World Cup matches. In the opening match against Australia, Waqar was removed from the attack after bowling a beamer at Andrew Symonds, becoming the first bowler to be disciplined in such a way during an international match. The Pakistanis then crashed out of the group stage after winning only two matches, both against associate member teams. After the tournament he conceded the captaincy and was dropped from international selection. After a nearly 15-year career, Waqar announced his retirement from cricket altogether in April 2004. At the end of his career he finished as the second highest wicket taker for Pakistani in test cricket with 373 wickets.

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• Waqar is the second best strike rate holder in Test Match Cricket with a minimum of 10,000 balls being bowled He has a strike rate of 43.4 even after bowling 16224 deliveries, which made him second only to Dale Steyn who has a strike rate of 42.0 after bowling 17707 deliveries in test match cricket.
• Waqar was named among the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1992 for his sporting achievements. He is also the only bowler to have taken 5 wickets in an innings in 3 consecutive One Day International matches. In terms of deliveries bowled, he has taken the fastest 300, 350 and 400 wickets in One Day International matches.
• Although primarily a fast bowler, Waqar scored 1010 Test match runs during his career. As of September 2005, he was the only non-batsman to achieve a thousand runs without scoring a fifty. Waqar holds the record for the best strike rate for any bowler with over 350 Test wickets.
• Waqar Younis holds the record for the best bowling figures as a captain in an ODI(7/36) and was also the first captain to take a 7 wicket haul in an ODI innings.
• He also holds the record for scoring the most career ODI runs when batting at number 10 (478)
• He is the youngest ever bowler to take a five wicket haul in an ODI innings (at the age of 18 years and 164 days)
• He holds the record for taking the most 4 wicket hauls in ODI cricket(27)
• He holds the record for taking the most consecutive five wicket hauls in terms of innings(3) and he's also the only player to achieve this milestone for 3 successive times
• He is the only bowler to take 3 successive 4fers in an ODI innings thrice in his career