Thursday 6 October 2011

Waqar Younis

Waqar Younis Biography:
Waqar Younis Maitla (Urdu: وقار یونس, born November 16, 1971), nicknamed Wiki,[1] is a former Pakistani cricketer, widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time.[2] Well known for his ability to reverse swing the ball, he has 373 Test wickets and 416 ODI wickets to his credit. Waqar has the best strike rate for any bowler with over 200 Test wickets.

Waqar Younis

waqar younis wickets

Waqar Younis 6-59 Vs Aus

Monday 3 October 2011

Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq Biography

Abdul Razzaq was once rapid enough to open the bowling and remains composed enough to bat anywhere, though he is discovering that the lower-order suits him nicely. His bowling - the reason he was first noticed - is characterised by a galloping approach, accuracy, and reverse-swing. But it is his batting that is more likely to win matches. He boasts a prodigious array of strokes and is particularly strong driving through cover and mid-off off both front and back foot. He has two gears: block or blast. Cut off the big shots and Razzaq gets bogged down, although patience is his virtue as he demonstrated in a match-saving fifty against India in Mohali in 2005. Just prior to that he had also played a bewilderingly slow innings in Australia, scoring four runs in over two hours. When the occasion demands it though, as ODIs often do, he can still slog with the best of them: England were pillaged for a 22-ball 51 at the end of 2005. and then again for nearly 60 runs in the last three overs of an ODI in September the following year.

It has hardly been smooth sailing though through his career. He suffered a slump, particularly in his bowling, between 2002 and 2004 when, though his place in the team wasn't under threat, there was uncertainty over how best to use him. But there were signs he was rediscovering some of his old guile if not his pace and nip. And if the pitch is in anyway helpful to seam - as it was in his first and only Test five-wicket haul at Karachi in 2004 or against India at the same venue in January 2006 - he can be a proper danger. Though Kamran Akmal's hundred overshadowed all in the Karachi win over India, Razzaq's performance was easily his most emphatic as an allrounder: he scored 45 and 90 as well as taking seven wickets in the match. A combination of injuries and poor form put his Test place into question and a knee injury days before the 2007 World Cup meant Pakistan missed his presence in a disastrous campaign.

A lackluster comeback to international cricket against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi and mediocre performance in the practice matches saw Razzaq being omitted from the 15-man squad for the Twenty20 World Championship and consequently announce his retirement from international cricket. He then went on to sign for Worcestershire towards the end of the county season as well as signing up with the Indian Cricket League, which ruled him out of Pakistan contention. He took back his decision to retire but committed himself to the ICL for two seasons, during which he served the Hyderabad Heroes as one of their star players.

After a global amnesty and quitting the ICL, he was welcomed back to the Pakistan fold for the World Twenty20 in England and made an immediate impact as Pakistan won the tournament. His Test comeback also looked set to be complete after he was included in Pakistan's 15-man squad for the tour of Sri Lanka in June. Early in his career he promised to be Pakistan's most complete allrounder since Imran Khan, and though for a variety of reasons he hasn't translated that into achievement, his country wouldn't mind having just a very solid allrounder.

Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq 62 runs from 30 balls; 3 fours and 5 sixes! part 1 of 2

5 Fours by Abdul Razzaq vs McGrath in one over

Imran nazir

Imran nazir boigraphy:

Another of Pakistan's prodigiously gifted players, but the suspicion was that Imran Nazir offers more genuine promise than most. An opener who is particularly strong off the back foot, he loves forcing through the covers. An aggressive approach has had him labelled as a one-day player, but Imran didn't fare badly in his first few Tests.

Eventually, however, his technique and lack of footwork was found out rather cruelly by Glenn McGrath and Co in two Tests against Australia. Imran was then upstaged by the likes of Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar, but a series of consistent domestic performances saw him recalled to the national squad against South Africa in 2006-07. A typically explosive 39-ball 57 saw him get selected for the 2007 World Cup squad though three failures in that series took the gloss off a touch. He is one of the best fielders in Pakistan, though, and is supposed to be the first Pakistani to cartwheel (while intercepting a square cut) . A career-best 160 against Zimbabwe in the World Cup saw Nazir being retained for the following tours to Abu Dhabi and Scotland while also being selected for training camps held in Pakistan. Nazir was also named in the squad for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship and was awarded a central contract in July 2007 before representing Pakistan in the home ODI series against South Africa. He later joined the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League and did very well for the Lahore Badshahs, but when the PCB pardoned players to have severed ties with the ICL, Nazir was soon called back into the ODI side.

Imran nazir

Imran nazir

The best oppning plyer of pakistan imran nazir sixes

Imran Nazir 111 - 11 6s 7 4s - ICL part 2 3Final LHR vs HYD

Saeed ajmal

Saeed Ajmal Biography:

Saeed Ajmal, an offspinner, received a call-up to the Pakistan squad for the Asia Cup at the age of 30 after an impressive domestic season with Khan Research Labs in 2007-08, during which he took 38 wickets in 12 first-class matches at an average of 29 apiece, and 12 wickets in nine list A games. He made an immediate impression with his subtle variations, unafraid to use the doosra. But his career took off with a series of ODI performances that bewildered Australia in Dubai and Abu Dhabi; he gave away few runs and his doosra was nigh-on unreadable. The ICC called him for his action, though it was cleared soon after. The pressure didn't get to him and immediately after, he played a crucial role in Pakistan's drive to the 2009 World Twenty20 title, regularly bottling up the middle overs with Shahid Afridi. He ended the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, with an exemplary economy rate as batsmen around the world struggled to pick a big turning doosra or even cope with his changes in flight, pace and angle. Consistent performances in the ODI version have quickly earned him a reputation for choking the runs in the middle overs with clever variations.

Saeed ajmal

Saeed Ajmal Wickets

Saeed Ajmal 3 wickets Worcestershire vs

Nottinghamshire 5th july 2011

Moin khan

Moin khan biography:

Renowned for his combative skills, Moin Khan has spent most of his career slugging it out with Rashid Latif for the keeper's gloves. His batting ability has generally kept him in front although Latif is a better keeper. An effective rather than stylish batsman, Moin relishes a crisis and has held together Pakistan's lower order time and again. His quick feet and improvisation are even more productive in one-day cricket where he scores at speed. Behind the stumps, he is the chirpiest of keepers and the stump mike has revealed his full repertoire to the world. "Well bowled" and "shabash" are his most familiar soundbites. As captain, Moin struggled to get his way amid Pakistan's incessant in-fighting and was too defensive, as when England triumphed in the gloom of Karachi. Moin played through most of the 2003-04 season, missing only the last two Tests against India due to injury. However, his wicketkeeping form wasn't entirely convincing, and with Kamran Akmal staking a strong claim, Moin's days as an international cricketer might be drawing to a close.

Moin Khan

Moin khan

Moin khan

Moin Khan Unbelievable Catch Vs India 1996

Moin Khan 31* of 12 Vs Australia 1999 World Cup

Rashid latif

Rashid Latif Biography:

Neat as he was as a wicketkeeper and as a batsman (he was selected for his Test debut on the strength of his batting), Rashid Latif earned more fame for his controversial acts than for his cricketing deeds. He announced his retirement in the middle of Pakistan's 1994-95 tour of Zimbabwe, following some fishy goings-on in South Africa under Salim Malik's captaincy, then returned as "Mr Clean" to captain the side after he had given plenty of evidence to Judge Qayyum's inquiry. All went well at first in South Africa in 1997-98 until he found, like Rameez Raja and Aamir Sohail, that certain senior players did not want things to change. He made a surprise return to the colours for the 2001 tour of England, and got a second shot at the captaincy when Waqar Younis was sacked after Pakistan's miserable performance at the 2003 World Cup. There was more controversy to follow, though. He kept up his crusade to clean up the game, writing an open letter to the ICC, warning of the dangers of "fancy fixing". Then, he was suspended for five matches for wrongly claiming a catch during the series against Bangladesh. These incidents led to the souring of relations between him and the Pakistan board, and ultimately resulted in his stepping down from captaincy at the end of that series.

Latif's penchant for controversy continued after his retirement too. He took up a job as batting coach of Afghanistan, but quit after citing interference with his coaching role. He was then appointed wicketkeeping coach by the Pakistan Cricket Board, but lasted less than a month in that role after comments he made on spot-fixing weren't viewed favourably by the board. That made him return to Afghanistan, this time as head coach.

Rashid Latif

Latif catch

Rashid Latif

Umar Gul

Umar Gul Biography:

The least-hyped but most successful and assured Pakistan pace product of the last few years, Umar Gul is the latest in Pakistan's assembly-line of pace-bowling talent. He had played just nine first-class matches when called up for national duty in the wake of Pakistan's poor 2003 World Cup. On the flat tracks of Sharjah, Gul performed admirably, maintaining excellent discipline and getting appreciable outswing with the new ball.

He isn't express but bowls a very quick heavy ball and his exceptional control and ability to extract seam movement marks him out. Further, his height enables him to extract bounce on most surfaces and from his natural back of a length, it is a useful trait. His first big moment in his career came in the Lahore Test against India in 2003-04. Unfazed by a daunting batting line-up, Gul tore through the Indian top order, moving the ball both ways off the seam at a sharp pace. His 5 for 31 in the first innings gave Pakistan the early initiative which they drove home to win the Test.

Unfortunately, that was his last cricket of any kind for over a year as he discovered three stress fractures in his back immediately after the Test. The injury would have ended many an international career, but Gul returned, fitter and sharper than before in late 2005. He returned in a Pakistan shirt against India in the ODI series at home in February 2006 and in Sri Lanka showed further signs of rehabilitation by lasting both Tests but it was really the second half of 2006, where he fully came of age. Leading the attack against England and then the West Indies as Pakistan's main bowlers suffered injuries, Gul stood tall, finishing Pakistan's best bowler.

Since then, as Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar have floundered, Gul has become Pakistan's spearhead and one of the best fast bowlers in the world. He is smart enough and good enough to succeed in all three formats and 2009 proved it: he put together a patch of wicket-taking in ODIs, on dead pitches in Tests (including a career-best six-wicket haul against Sri Lanka) and established himself as the world's best Twenty20 bowler, coming on after the initial overs and firing in yorkers on demand.

He had hinted at that by being leading wicket-taker in the 2007 World Twenty20; over the next two years he impressed wherever he went, in the IPL for the Kolkatta Knight Riders and in Australia's domestic Twenty20 tournament. Confirmation came on the grandest stage: having poleaxed Australia in a T20I in Dubai with 4-8, he was the best bowler and leading wicket-taker as Pakistan won the second World Twenty20 in England. The highlight was 5-6 against New Zealand, the highest quality exhibition of yorker bowling. He is not a one-format pony, however, and will remain a crucial cog in Pakistan's attack across all formats.

Umar Gul