Blog: Me, myself and I, Waqar’s self loving obsession

It’s often said that great players don’t make great coaches because they struggle to understand why something that came so easy to them, could be so difficult for someone else.

Mostly, they attempt to impart advice as opposed to bringing out their players’ inherent talent and free will. Great athletes who become coaches often mistake their past behavior as the source of their success. So they try to teach their players the methods that seemed to work for them. What’s overlooked, though, is the clarity of mind that triggered the success in the first place.


And when results don’t match the high expectations promised by them, they start the blame game, exactly what Waqar Younis has been doing for the past few weeks.


After a disappoint outing Down-Under, where the team performed much below par and Waqar’s skills as a coach came heavily under the radar, the legendary speedster has been swift in getting the table set according to his taste and desire.


Showing clear displeasure over his leaked tour report in which he put blame on half a dozen players and jotted down a plethora of changes he wishes to see in Pakistan Cricket, Waqar, however, could not find any shortcoming on his part.


His finger pointing comes as a surprise as it was he who himself handpicked the team with complete authority. So if there were shortcomings in performance and skills, shouldn’t he be the one answering the fact finding commission?


After all, he was Mr. Powerful, he was calling the shots, he was picking and dropping players at will, he knew the conditions better than anyone, then why should only players be held responsible for failure on field.


Bowlers peaked under his guidance and all credit to him for that, but it was the scratchy batting and sloppy fielding that led Pakistan down. Some would argue that he is not known for tricks with the bat and Grant Flower should be grilled instead? But then who will shoulder responsibility for the selection blunders?


Knowing the vulnerability of Pakistani batsmen in swinging conditions, the coach still showed Lions courage by dropping technically sound batsmen like Azhar Ali and Sarfaraz Ahmed, mysteriously sent Hafeez back home and put a career threatening halt on experienced horses Shoaib Malik and Abdul Razzaq, seasoned players who could have brought stability to the team.


Ask yourself, who didn’t know that the disaster prone triplet of Umer Akmal, Haris Sohail and Sohaib Maqsood will flounder in demanding conditions? And who didn’t have the vision to foresee Nasir Jamshed lofting shots that even club level batsmen would shiver playing?



Instead, the coach found the easy and trusted way out, something we are used to seeing after every World Cup debacle. Blame senior cricketers for their jaded performance and strangle their voices, install subservient players on key positions in the name of yet another build up and in the process, stamp his complete authority.

Controversy, nothing new…

Famously coined as ‘Burewala Express’ for his lightening pace, his coaching engine however, hasn’t been able to puff much smoke. He first landed the job as bowling coach in 2006 that ended abruptly after a rift with Inzamam, with the former blaming him for preferring Mushtaq Ahmed. He then became the head coach in 2010 and guided them to T-20 and 2011 ODI World Cup semi finals.


But all was not well within the team as news of ego clashes made frequent headlines. Waqar and Captain Shahid Afridi were experiencing a rocky relationship that eventually creating a tense environment in the dressing room.






As temperatures soared, Waqar decided to step down reasoning family commitments, but not before stamping Afridi as an immature captain, having poor discipline, lacking a game plan and not willing to listen to advice.


Afridi hit back through media slamming Waqar as a hot-headed and egoistic person.


The rift ultimately reflected through results, under Waqar Pakistan won 21 and lost 20 ODI’s, a record hardly worth smiling.


He got the job back in 2014 and many expected him to return with a mature mind and welcoming attitude, but sadly, Waqar didn’t learn much from his bitter experiences.






As the old saying goes, where there’s Smoke there is fire, there must be some wrong doings on Waqar’s part that lands him in hot waters every time he dons the coaches shirt.


New Plans, new Controversies

With eyes already set on the 2019 WC, Azhar Ali was the prime selection in Waqar’s build up plan. He is the new ODI captain and Sarfaraz Ahmed is his deputy, the idea is to groom Sarfaraz under a Captain, who himself needs grooming, brilliant move.


Amusingly, while Azhar has little captaincy credentials in domestics colors, Sarfaraz as a Captain won the 2006 U-19 World Cup for Pakistan.





Strange as it may be, the plan appears to be a thoughtfully crafted move, but only to benefit a few.


Although Misbah put forward Azhar’s name, conspiracy mongers reveal that Waqar and Misbah had joined hands to scratch each other’s back. While Waqar won’t question Misbah’s growing age and vitality at the test level, Misbah helped him find him a “Yes Sir” kind submissive skipper for the ODIs.

And to brush off any rising voice, Afridi was handed the T-20 team.

With a firm grip over most affairs and little chance of anyone questioning him, Waqar Younis stars as the ‘New Superman of Pakistan Cricket’.
Change this, that and everything, but who will do it?


A look into his WC tour report and one finds it bombarded of suggestions to improve domestic cricket. Cut domestic teams to 10, develop the game at school and club level, build better stadiums and functional academies, help nurture young players, send teams on foreign tours and the list goes on.


While there is dearth of raising hands and watering mouths each time the national coaching in put for grab, the call for bringing out sweat with young players mostly remains unanswered by former legends. The million dollar questions remains undisturbed, who is willing to be the ‘Superman of Domestic cricket’?


Not Waqar at least, perhaps, his game plan, ambitions and wish lists are too high to make impact on the domestic circuit. A place where the inputs of players like him is visibly needed; sadly, it’s also a place that fails to find much thumps-up.


All that is history and the team embarks on a new journey with Bangladesh as their first obstacle. But remember, this is a new team that is bound to tremble multiple times before it learns to stand and start walking.

In case things go wrong, fans will need to show patience. As for the Coach, he too would be expected to show maturity and wisdom in shearing the blame rather than making his young team the escape goat again.


Ashar Zaidi is a Senior Anchor/Sports Journalist with Geo News. He tweets @AsharZaidiGeo