Here, Younis recalls everything from his penchant for leg-spin bowling, how television coverage aided his Pakistan call up and takes his pick for best bowler out of the current lot while revealing what exactly is wrong with Umar Gul.
Tell us about the early part of your career? How did you make it into the Pakistan side?
I remember I had played only six first class games when I got picked for the Pakistan camp out of the blue. I had done reasonably well, picking up around twenty-seven wickets in those first few matches. I remember Imran was not feeling well at the time, and was not present at the camp. Luckily the Super Wills Cup was going on, and there was a match between United Bank and Delhi XI. Saleem Jaffar got injured, and I got the opportunity to play that game. Imran watched me on TV, and actually came to the ground to watch the end of the game. The very next day, he met me and told me that I will be going to Sharjah next month. Just meeting Imran at the time was enough of an experience for me, but for him to notify me of my selection was just out of this world.
You had an extremely smooth run-up to the crease, an elegant gather, and a perfectly side-on action. Who did you model yourself against?
I don’ t think I tried to copy or emulate any one. I shared a lot of stuff with Wasim, Aqib and Imran but was myself when it came to bowling and my action. First of all, I never thought I would actually play cricket. I was more of an all-round athlete. I was a runner, a javelin thrower, a high jumper and a pole-vaulter in school, and was really into athletics. I used to bowl casual leg-spin, and it was only when somebody saw me bowl fast while living in Abu Dhabi, I was told to concentrate on fast bowling. So in college I bought spikes, and took it up more seriously, but remained true to who I was, and my natural action.
You see many of the modern day fast-bowlers who come on to the scene, with the slim & lanky build that you had, and take a few years to get to their maximum pace. You were fast from the outset though.
Yes. I wasn’t ever taught to bowl line and length though, and feel like coaching is sometimes bad for you as a budding fast bowler. Raw is always good. I remember I bowled extremely waywardly in my first few games, but Imran never told me to hold back, or asked me what I was doing. These days the captain will easily get frustrated and say “What are you doing?...I didn’t pick you for this.” But Imran told me “I picked you to bowl fast” and that’s what I did. It encouraged me a lot to stay true to myself at the beginning of my career.
For more detail Exclusive: “I picked you to bowl fast”
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