Waqar Younis - Coaching

Coaching

In March 2006, he was appointed as the bowling coach for Pakistan. He resigned from this position on 6 January 2007 in protest against the Pakistan Cricket Board decision to retain him only for the Test series against South Africa and not for the subsequent series of five One Day International matches. He was re-appointed as Pakistan's bowling and fielding coach for their tour of Australia in December 2009. In February 2010, Younis was appointed the head coach of Pakistan after Intikhab Alam was sacked as coach, due to the low-level of performances of the national side during the tour of Australia earlier that year.

Waqar's first job as coach was to lead an inexperienced Pakistan side missing Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik to the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 as a consolation though Waqar had two top-notch bowlers in Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif at his disposal. He guided the defending champions to the semi-final of the tournament before they were knocked out by Australia courtesy of a superb 60* by Mike Hussey who whacked three sixes in the final over to seal the victory.

The World Twenty20 was followed with the 2010 Asia Cup in which Pakistan lost to Sri Lanka by a narrow-margin as Pakistan's top order collapsed and it was Shahid Afridi who scored 109 to nearly guide Pakistan to victory. In the following match Pakistan lost narrowly against India courtesy of a six by Harbhajan Singh from the third ball of the final over. The following match was a dead rubber between Pakistan and Bangladesh and another Afridi century meant Pakistan scored 385 runs and they comfortably won the match by 139 runs

After this a tour of England followed with two Twenty20's against Australia and two Test matches. Pakistan won both Twenty20's comfortably and the first test saw Pakistan defeated by 154 runs. Pakistan rallied in the second test and for the first time in 15 years Pakistan defeated Australia in a Test match. Ironically the previous victory in 1995 was also courtesy of a superb bowling spell by Waqar Younis.

This tour was followed by a controversial tour of England as Pakistan headed in to the final Test match needing to win it to level the series 2-2. The News of the World broke the news that Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and captain Salman Butt were involved in Spot-fixing. This saw the three players temporarily suspended and Pakistan lost by an innings and 225 runs - their biggest defeat in history. Low team morale meant the next two T20 matches were won comfortably by England, and the subsequent ODI series was won 3-2 by England as well.

This was followed by a tour of Abu Dhabi against South Africa. Pakistan lost the first Twenty20 match by six wickets following a batting collapse. Pakistan also lost the ODI series of five matches 3-2. Pakistan won the second ODI due to Abdul Razzaq's superb performance of 109* off 72 balls. The test series of two matches with South Africa was drawn. He also stated that now it was the time for Pakistan to rally and prepare for the World Cup.