Waqar Younis is considered one of the most effective pacers to grace Pakistan cricket in the 90s and early 2000s. He has played 87 Test matches, snapping up 373 wickets throughout his illustrious career with the crown jewel being the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar, who incidentally was also making his Test bow, in his 1989 Test debut.
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In the match, Younis took 4 wickets for 80 runs in the first innings with one of his victims being Tendulkar, who was castled by the Pakistan icon. The other wickets he took were Kapil Dev, Sanjay Manjrekar and Manoj Prabhakar.
In a throwback to the legendary moment, Pakistan Cricket shared a video of Younis’s Test debut which featured him taking out Tendulkar for 15 runs.
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Recalling their first encounter, Younis had said he never imagined that Sachin would become the biggest name in the coming years as the latter got out for just 15 runs in Karachi.
“I was playing my first Test match and it was a dream come true for me. I did manage to bowl 18 overs despite an injury and got 4 wickets including a Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket. He could score just 15 runs but the way he played a couple of classy drives, was really impressive,” Waqar had said on Wisden’s podcast ‘The Greatest Rivalry.’
Waqar had also added that there was a buzz about Sachin, who was then just a kid, and the entire Indian cricket team was talking about him.
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“He was the one who was scoring triple centuries in the school. Who scores triple centuries in school? In the first look, he did not give me the impression that he was going to be the great Sachin Tendulkar. What he’s done over the years is amazing. His hard work has really paid off,” Waqar had said.
