Inzamam-ul-haq

Inzamam-ul-Haq helps Pakistan to victory in their first Twenty20, England v Pakistan, Twenty20, Bristol, August 28, 2006

Waqar Younis rocks Australia-Paksitan vs Australia Trentbridge Natwest tri-series 2001

Pakistan gained a morale-boosting victory over Australia in the Day/Night International at Trent Bridge ahead of Saturday's NatWest Series Final.

Having won the toss and elected to bat first Pakistan made 290-9 from their 50 overs and despite half-centuries from Adam Gilchrist and Steve Waugh Australia were restricted to 254 all out, losing by 36 runs. Once again Waqar Younis was the destroyer-in-chief, picking up 6-59.

In pursuit of a huge victory target of 291 Australia needed to build a solid platform but they were rocked with the early departures of both Mark Waugh and Matthew Hayden. Waqar Younis, bowling the second over, began with a wide but then bowled a perfect away swinger which nicked the outside edge of Waugh's bat and was neatly taken by the diving Latif.

Left-hander Hayden fell in the same over, although there was some confusion over his dismissal. Replays seemed to indicate that the ball struck only the pad on it's way through to the 'keeper. Although the lbw shout looked very close the official scorers maintained that the batsman was caught behind.

Adam Gilchrist provided a dynamic response, smashing four boundaries in Waqar's second over but the Pakistan captain continued his purple streak at the start of his third. Michael Bevan being the next to go, bowled with a ball that nipped back into him and pole-axed his middle stump.

Waqar Younis

Fast bowling, in case it needs telling, is tough. And fast bowlers are, by nature, animals with a very short lifespan.

Yet, there are exceptions -- and Waqar Younis, who made his international debut on the same day as India's Sachin Tendulkar, is one of them. With 759 international wickets under his belt, you would have thought he was approaching his use-by date, but the world's greatest exponent of reverse swing remains as lethal as he always was.

Nicknamed the "Burewala Express", after his central Punjab hometown, Waqar Younis in action is a sight for the gods -- the furious run up, the trademark leap and the hurling action have been much admired, never imitated.

The lethal quality of his bowling is best encapsulated in one statistic -- Younis has 57 per cent of his victims either bowled or LBW, which is way ahead of any other bowler past or present.

With Wasim Akram, Younis formed the most lethal bowling combination seen since the days of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson.

At the peak of his career, as he prepares to lead Pakistan to the World Cup for the first time, Younis discusses with Faisal Shariff the problems of Pakistan cricket, his famous now on now off relationship with mate Wasim Akram, and the intricacies of reverse swing.

Waqar Younis

Pakistan fast bowling legend Waqar Younis has been given the role of coaching England’s academy side on the tour to India. The former Pakistani fast bowler is famous for his lightning fast deliveries and his ability to generate reverse swing. His experience in the subcontinent is also a large part in the decision to appoint Younis.

Waqar Younis will be working with Tim Bresnan, Mark Davies, Robbie Joseph, Amjad Khan, Sajid Mahmood and Liam Plunkett, over the winter. It is likely that Younis will not be offered a role with the senior team because that role is currently being occupied by Ottis Gibson.

Wasim Akram

Right from the days of Sarfaraz Nawaz, Abdul Qadir, Imran Khan and Wasim Akram, Pakistani soil has been producing some of the bowlers who will not become great, but prove to be leathal. I mean, don't you know about Saqlain Mushtaq - the only spinner who used to bowl at the end overs of an ODI. Pakistan captain used to bring back Saqlain when opposition batsmen started to score quickly.

Have a look at them now - they had Waqar Younis, who could reverse swing the ball in bizarre manner, then they found Shoaib Akhtar - the fastest bowler in the world. With his run-up from the boundary, long hair and immaculate physical strength, Shoaib Akhtar is not just a bowler but a spectacle that people love watching during a cricket match.

And now when Shoaib is coming to the end of his career, Pakistan has unleashed Mohammad Asif - A bowler who is as accurate as Glenn McGrath, but also with the ability to swing the ball both ways... and also to reverse swing it. With a height of six feet and 3 inches, Mohammad Asif is fastely making waves in International cricket.

Imran Khan Politic

My generation grew up at a time when colonial hang-up was at its peak. Our older generation had been slaves and had a huge inferiority complex of the British. The school I went to was similar to all elite schools in Pakistan . Despite gaining independent, they were, and still are, producing replicas of public schoolboys rather than Pakistanis.

I read Shakespeare, which was fine, but no Allama Iqbal – the national poet of Pakistan . The class on Islamic studies was not taken seriously, and when I left school I was considered among the elite of the country because I could speak English and wore Western clothes.

Despite periodically shouting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ in school functions, I considered my own culture backward and religion outdated. Among our group if any one talked about religion, prayed or kept a beard he was immediately branded a Mullah.

Because of the power of the Western media, our heroes were Western movie stars or pop stars. When I went to Oxford already burdened with this hang up, things didn’t get any easier. At Oxford , not just Islam, but all religions were considered anachronism. Science had replaced religion and if something couldn’t be logically proved it did not exist. All supernatural stuff was confined to the movies.

Philosophers like Darwin , who with his half-baked theory of evolution had supposedly disproved the creation of men and hence religion, were read and revered. Moreover, European history reflected its awful experience with religion. The horrors committed by the Christian clergy during the Inquisition era had left a powerful impact on the Western mind.

To understand why the West is so keen on secularism, one should go to places like Cordoba in Spain and see the torture apparatus used during the Spanish Inquisition. Also the persecution of scientists as heretics by the clergy had convinced the Europeans that all religions are regressive.

Pakistan Win the World Cup 1992

After a remarkable career as captain of Pakistan's national cricket team, Imran Khan parlayed his fame and fortune into a successful career as one of Pakistan's most prominent politicians. Following his retirement from international cricket in 1992, Khan founded the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital & Research Center. Four years later, Khan founded the Movement for Justice, a sociopolitical movement with the intent to expose the supposed corruption of Pakistan's ruling elite. Khan eventually won a place in Parliament in 2002 and has been a popular, albeit controversial member ever since.