Waqar Younis: Like lightning - A statistical analysis of the King of Reverse Swing

Waqar Younis is considered one of the greats of modern day fast bowling

Since the resumption of cricket post-World War II, spinners dominated the bowling scene. Jim Laker, Tony Lock, Richie Benaud, Sonny Ramadhin, Alf Valentine, Subhash Gupte, Lance Gibbs and Bishen Bedi were some of the most miserly exponents of that art, perplexing batsmen with their variations the world over.

But the scene changed in the 1970s, Australia broke the spin formula and in the form of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson had a pair of fast bowlers who were intimidators as much as they were wicket takers.  The 1974/75 Ashes and Frank Worrell Trophy 1975/76 were the most brutal examples of fast bowlers ripping through the opposition. The Australian match atmosphere (a jeering crowd, on field sledging) only added to the aura the fast bowling combination of Lillee and Thommo carried.

This tradition was carried forward by the West Indies, which relied almost entirely on a four-pronged pace attack throughout the 1980s and stamped itself as the most overwhelmingly dominating test side since Don Bradman’s Invincibles of 1948.  The blows endured by Brian Close, Mohinder Amarnath, Mike Gatting, Graeme Wood, Robin Smith (to name a few) were a telling definition of the reputation that fast bowlers carried in that era.

Waqar Younis only helped further this reputation when he smacked Sachin Tendulkar on the jaw at Sialkot in 1989 as India was holding on to draw a historic Test series in Pakistan. A bowler of raw pace, back in 1992, Waqar Younis was a subject of much interest to purists the world over, amazed at the phenomenon of reverse swing as they were at its legality.

Waqar was an innovator with the ball and an artist who made it walk and talk like few have ever done. He, along with Wasim Akram was instrumental in making Pakistan one of the most competitive sides of the 1990s (W/L ratio of 1.52 was the third best in that decade after Australia and South Africa, and second best after the 1980s)

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Test Matches

Waqar Younis was at his peak as a Test match bowler between 15 Nov 1989 and 28 Sep 1994. During this period, he was undoubtedly the most prolific wicket-taker in the world, taking 187 wickets in 32 matches; 20 wickets more than the second placed Wasim Akram, in almost the same number of matches. Waqar took an astonishing 5.8 wickets per match, comfortably ahead of Wasim (5.4) and Ambrose (5.15).

But what’s most amazing about these statistics is Waqar’s unbelievable consistency of bagging wickets by the handful. Waqar was talking a 5-for once every 3 innings, which is way ahead of Wasim (4.3) and Ambrose (5.8). Waqar’s average is only behind Curtly Ambrose (18.71) while his strike rate of 35.4 is clearly ahead of the next placed Wasim Akram (46.6).

Table 1: Top Bowlers in Test Matches (15 Nov 1989-28 Sep 1994)

Bowler	Matches	Wickets	Average	S/R	5WI	10WM
Waqar Younis	32	187	18.85	35.4	19	4
Wasim Akram	31	167	20.46	46.6	13	2
Curtly Ambrose	31	159	18.71	51	10	3
Merv Hughes	36	158	25.99	54.9	4	0
Craig Mcdermott	34	151	26.21	55.4	6	2
Shane Warne	27	124	23.62	67.4	6	1
Danny Morrison	27	103	32.78	59.1	7	0
Courtney Walsh	31	100	28.66	65.7	2	0
Phil DeFreitas	26	99	27.58	59.1	3	0
Devon Malcolm	27	97	33.73	61	5	2

During this period, Waqar was also the highest wicket-taker in wins, taking 123 wickets in 15 matches with a jaw-dropping WPM (Wickets-per Match) ratio of 8.2. Curtly Ambrose (98) and Wasim Akram (92) are the next placed bowlers again. His average and strike rate are the best of the lot too.

Waqar also took 13 of his 22 5-fors in these 15 matches. Such a skewed concentration of wickets may show that Waqar peaked very early but while he did, he stood head and shoulders above the others.

Table 2: Most Wickets in Wins (15 Nov 1989 – 28 Sep 1994) – (Qual – Min 50 Wickets)

Bowler	Matches	Wickets	Ave	S/R	5WI	10WM
Waqar Younis	15	123	14.46	28.8	13	4
Curtly Ambrose	15	98	14.98	42.3	7	3
Wasim Akram	13	92	15.67	36.6	7	1
Merv Hughes	17	80	22.65	52.6	1	0
Craig McDermott	15	74	22.9	51.8	4	2
Shane Warne	12	69	19.85	59.8	3	0
Anil Kumble	8	55	19.36	50.3	4	1
Courtney Walsh	14	54	24.27	54.4	0	0

During his career, Waqar was amongst the most formidable wicket takers in winning causes. His tally of 222 wickets is bettered only by Glenn Mcgrath (297) and Muttiah Muralidaran (236). His average is also an impressive 18.20, and only Ambrose, Murali, Donald, Kumble and Wasim have a better average but the numbers are packed closely.

A common sight after a Waqar Younis delivery

One thing that stands out for Waqar yet again is his strike rate, which is better than any bowler who took more than 100 wickets in matches won during his career span. Incidentally, Waqar’s strike rate of 43.4 is the second best in the history of cricket (After Dale Steyn) if the cut off is taken at 200 wickets and the fourth best when the cut-off is reduced to 100 wickets.

Table 3: Most Wickets in Wins (15 Nov 1989 – 2 Jan 2003) (Qual – Min 100 Wickets)

Player	Matches	Wickets	Ave	S/R	5WI	10WM
Curtly Ambrose	33	184	15.19	41.9	12	3
Muttiah Muralitharan	29	236	16.20	46.2	22	10
Allan Donald	33	187	16.79	35.5	14	3
Shaun Pollock	34	166	17.19	45.3	9	1
Anil Kumble	23	170	17.34	45.2	12	3
Wasim Akram	33	188	18.19	41.6	12	2
Waqar Younis	39	222	18.20	35.0	14	4

One of Waqar’s (and Wasim’s) outstanding ability was to ball Yorker/full-length balls at high speed which resulted in him taking a lot of wickets in the form of a bowled/LBW dismissal.

212 out of this total 373 career wickets came in the form of the two modes of dismissal, a proportion (56.8%) which is only behind England’s Brian Statham (57.1%). Ray Lindwall and Wasim Akram are the other two bowlers to take more than 50% of their wickets in this manner.

(Video courtesy: robelinda 2 YouTube channel)

One thing to note in the complete list is that of the 19 bowlers who have a proportion of greater than 40% bowled/LBW, few (6) bowled in the 2000s, and even fewer (2) made their debuts in the same decade (Rangana Herath and Matthew Hoggard). Batsmen have either found a technique to avoid the ball from hitting the timber, or bowlers have lost the penetrative guile.

Table 4: Bowled/LBW wickets (% of total Wickets)

Bowler	Bowled/LBW Dismissals	Total Wickets	% (Bowled/LBW)
Brian Statham	144	252	57.14
Waqar Younis	212	373	56.84
Lindwall	128	228	56.14
Wasim Akram	221	414	53.38
Graeme Swann	127	255	49.80
Joel Garner	126	259	48.65
Imran Khan	176	362	48.62
Michael Holding	116	249	46.59
Fred Trueman	143	307	46.58
Kapil Dev	199	434	45.85