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

Waqar vs Wasim

The two W’s formed a deadly duo

Waqar formed with Wasim Akram, one of the most deadly and effective fast bowling partnerships of all time. In the 61 matches that they played together, they took almost the same number of wickets, while Waqar took wickets at a better strike rate, Wasim outdid him in average, 5-fors and 10-fors.

Also, note that differences in these parameters are almost negligible as both bowlers were neck and neck in terms of wicket taking abilities.Table 5: Waqar Younis (Matches Played with Wasim)

Matches	Inns	Runs	Wickets	Average	Econ	S/R	5WI	10WM
61	110	6351	277	22.92	3.27	42	17	3

Table 6: Wasim Akram (Matches Played with Waqar)

Matches	Inns	Runs	Wickets	Average	Econ	S/R	5WI	10WM
61	109	6016	282	21.33	2.6	49.2	20	4

In the 28 matches that they played and won together, there again is little to differentiate the two. They took almost the same number of wickets, gave away the same number of runs per wicket, and took the same number of 5 and 10-fors. Nevertheless, Waqar comes up trumps when it comes to strike rate, proof of the mindset of attacking bowling ingrained into him by his mentor Imran Khan.Table 7: Waqar Younis (Matches Won with Wasim)

Matches	Inns	Runs	Wickets	Average	Econ	S/R	5WI	10WM
28	56	2969	165	17.99	3.15	34.2	10	2

Table 8: Wasim Akram (Matches Won with Waqar)

Matches	Inns	Runs	Wickets	Average	Econ	S/R	5WI	10WM
28	55	2902	161	18.02	2.62	41.1	11	2

A closer look at the numbers of Wasim and Waqar does bring out one facet that catapults Wasim into the category of all-time great and Waqar into those who touched and missed – Consistency.

Akram’s numbers did not vary no matter what the opposition and the venue was, whereas at least one of the two had to be in Waqar’s favour for him to do well.

Breaking down the matches they played together by opposition, the difference between Akram’s highest and lowest average vs an opposition is only 12.21, whereas, for Waqar, the difference is 39.06.

A similar story prevails when it comes to strike rate as Wasim was at his best against every opposition (difference: 21.3) while Waqar’s performance varied as per the opposition (difference: 62.5).

Table 9: Wasim vs Waqar (Performance vs Oppositions) – Matches Played Together

	Waqar Younis	Wasim Akram	Waqar Younis	Wasim Akram	Waqar Younis	Wasim Akram
Opposition	Wickets	Wickets	Average	Average	S/R	S/R
India	8	21	48.75	23.76	80.2	53.6
Australia	24	42	34.37	21.66	66	52.4
New Zealand	45	48	17.86	16.41	38.9	40.9
West Indies	47	57	23.12	19.64	39.50	42.10
Sri Lanka	48	35	21.27	20.20	36	49.3
England	44	37	25.93	28.62	46.1	62.2
Zimbabwe	34	34	21.91	20.11	41.8	47.2
South Africa	14	8	15.14	24.37	27.7	51.7
Bangladesh	13	0	9.69	0	17.7	0