Tag: Waqar

PALLEKELE - Pakistan coach Waqar Younis Saturday warned under-performing opening pair Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shahzad to start delivering World Cup runs. "We have to show real improvement in our batting, especially our openers who have not done well," said Waqar. Pakistan defeated Canada by 46 runs in their last match, after being bowled out for a disappointing 184 against the Group A minnows.
Hafeez and Shahzad, who both showed good pre-tournament form, have managed

COLOMBO - Pakistan coach Waqar Younis Wednesday insisted the World Cup was clean and urged an end to talk about match-fixing in cricket. His comments come after Sri Lankan state TV channel ITN speculated over whether Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera may have changed the game by getting out cheaply in their team's defeat against Pakistan.
The station added a local businessman had placed an $18,000 bet on Sri Lanka losing the game. Sri Lanka's cricket authorities angrily

COLOMBO - Pakistan pace legends Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis said on Wednesday they were honoured to hear that their devastating armoury of yorkers had inspired record-breaking Lasith Malinga.
The 27-year-old Sri Lankan took a career-best 6-38, including a hat-trick -- his second in World Cups after he famously took four-in-four against South Africa at Guyana in 2007 -- in Tuesday's crushing nine-wicket win over Kenya. Malinga later admitted he learnt the art of bowling yorkers

COLOMBO - Pakistan coach Waqar Younis played down the threat from Muttiah Muralitharan ahead of their crucial World Cup clash with Sri Lanka on Saturday, saying their batsmen had coped with him in the past.
A capacity 35,000-crowd is expected to fill the Premadasa stadium in Colombo for the Group A match -- the first big test for both teams after Sri Lanka easily rolled over Canada and Pakistan crushed Kenya. "In the past if Muralitharan had plans for us, we have played really

The Pakistan team, its manager and coach should keep the team gelled and should not be talking about the players weaknesses and fitness openly. Instead they should be encouraging all the members of the team. I believe Waqar Younis questioning the fitness of pacer Shoaib Akhtar in front of the media will create problems in the team in the ongoing World Cup. I am surprised that what Waqar said about Shoaib that he is still half-fit and working hard to gain match-fitness. What does he

LAHORE - Pakistan cricket team coach Waqar Younis said that threats given by Shiv Sena do not affect Pakistan players. They all are fit and have focused all their attention on the game. Speaking to media in Dhaka, Waqar said that the players have worked hard for the World Cup and victory is vital to revive cricket in Pakistan. The Pakistan coach did not termed any team as favourite but he said the team who would play well would win the tournament and he hopes it would be Pakistan.

COLOMBO - As a player, Waqar Younis had nothing but bad memories of the World Cup. Now as a coach, he has challenge of turning around Pakistan's talented yet unpredictable team. "Well, it's true that the World Cup hasn't been too kind to me, but that is motivation and challenge enough to fight on and take another chance as coach of a talented team which can win the tournament," Waqar told AFP.
Waqar, now 39, was regarded as one of the most potent fast bowlers in his prime,

LAHORE - Pakistan coach Waqar Younis and team manager Intikhab Alam called Tuesday for a fresh start for the national side after three key players were handed lengthy bans on corruption charges. "It is important that it's finished now and we can start afresh," Waqar told reporters at Lahore airport.
"We can now make a fresh start after a lot of controversies affected Pakistan cricket and I am happy that it's over now." Waqar was coach during England tour where the scandal

LAHORE - Coach Waqar Younis is pleased with the recent performance of Pakistan cricket team, saying the performance of the outfit is satisfactory. Younis is hopeful that the successful tour of New Zealand will mark a turning point. Before this tour, Pakistan had not won a Test series since 2006 and a one-day series since 2008.
"Yeah, I'm pretty pleased because it has been a while since Pakistan won anything. So, it's definitely satisfying," TV New Zealand reported on Monday. "I

LAHORE - Pakistan cricket coach Waqar Younis has expressed 'regrets' over his comments on the World Cup captaincy issue that he recently made on a television channel. The former Test captain's comments did not go down well with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and it issued a notice to Waqar to explain his remarks.
"Yes, Waqar has submitted a reply to the notice that the board had sent him. And Waqar has said that he would be careful in future while giving statements," an

LAHORE - The Pakistan Cricket Board has issued a notice to the national team coach Waqar Younis for giving a media statement regarding the announcement of captain for the World Cup. The former pacer had expressed surprise over PCB's decision to withhold the name of the captain for the World Cup starting next month. A PCB official said that the board had taken notice of Waqar's statement regarding the captaincy issue.
"We have asked him to explain his comments on the captaincy

LAHORE - Pakistan's coach Waqar Younis has become the latest to join the growing list of people who have expressed their surprise over Pakistan Cricket Board's decision to delay naming of the captain for the 2011 World Cup while announcing the 15-member squad.
"This is also surprising to me. I don't know what reasons the board could have for delaying naming the captain but personally I feel it would have been better to announce the captain along with the World Cup team," Waqar

LAHORE - Pakistan coach Waqar Younis gave evidence to the independent anti-corruption tribunal hearing in Doha, Qatar.
Three leading players, former Test captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif are expected to learn their fate overnight (NZT) following the conclusion of a six-day hearing.
The trio, all frontline players, have been charged with offences relating to alleged activity surrounding the Test against England at Lord's in August. A British Sunday

LAHORE - Pakistan one-day captain Shahid Afridi and head coach Waqar Younis will testify before the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption tribunal in Doha next week. There decision to testify before the ICC tribunal came after Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi met PCB chairman Ijaz Butt on Monday morning.
It was learnt that statements from Waqar and Afridi could deal a serious blow to Salman Butt's case. "I had a very positive meeting with the chairman and I hope the team

LAHORE - Pakistan coach Waqar Younis was unfazed by the team's five-wicket loss at the hands of the Auckland Aces in Thursday's Twent20 warm-up match at Colin Maiden Park.
Umar Akmal's 25 runs in the middle-order was as good as it got for the tourists' batting as they fell to 91 all out in 17.4 overs in the opening clash of their tour of New Zealand. The hosts reached their modest target with six overs and four balls to spare, with Martin Guptill weighing in with an unbeaten 28.

LAHORE - A full bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Punjab director general (DG) to review the investigation into the forex-cum-property scam of Rs 1.38 billion and arrest the real culprits, including five bigwigs who were earlier spared by NAB.
The bench was hearing the bail matter of one Mohsin Ayub, a forex-cum-property dealer who is in jail for a property fraud.

LAHORE: Pakistan coach Waqar Younis on Tuesday said he wanted to earn respect and admiration of his fellows like he did as a player.
A day before the close of the camp training of the team, Waqar said: "As a coach I am giving the same commitment I gave as a player. The intensity and hunger has not gone down."
Waqar, who was named head coach of the team in place of Intikhab Alam this year after a disastrous tour of Australia, was also confident that the present Pakistani team