In a shocking comment, Younis said during the show on Monday that it was very special for him to watch Mohammad Rizwan offer Namaz in front of Hindus during the match
A screengrab of Waqar Younis from a video on his Twitter page @waqyounis99.
Waqar Younis proudly calls himself a former Pakistan cricket team coach, captain and a proud fast bowler for Pakistan on Twitter but not a ‘gentleman’.
The irony of the situation could not have been starker. The poor comment by Younis was neither off the record nor did it help to enhance the image of game which is till date often referred to as gentleman’s game. Younis’ comment was a pathetic hit wicket where he lost respect as a former cricketer of glory nothing akin to a gentleman who played the gentleman’s game for so long representing his country Pakistan.
He was invited as a guest to ARYNews anchor Kashif Abbasi’s show Off The Record to discuss Pakistan’s spectacular win against India in the ongoing T20 World Cup in Dubai.
However, the discussion was hardly about cricket, but mostly to spew venom against India.
In a shocking comment, Younis said during the show on Monday that it was very special for him to watch Mohammad Rizwan offer Namaz in front of Hindus during the match. His comment, which can be easily described as ‘this is not cricket’, drew a sharp reaction from cricket analyst Harsha Bhogle who termed it as ‘one of the most disappointing things I have heard’.
And many Pakistanis agreed with Bhogle said. Talal Asif Dar, who works for GNN, tweeted out to say ‘Sorry on behalf of Pakistan’ for the completely unacceptable comments made by Younis.
“As someone who grew up idolising Waqar, this was very disappointing to see,” said Pakistani journalist Humayoun Ahmed Khan.
Huma, who describes herself as “dream lover ? ??????#cricket lover, wanna be a presenter, #Pakistan proud” also had a lesson for the former fast bowler in her response to Bhogle’s tweet. “As a sportperson u’re an ambasador of peace how can u even say that,” she said.
Another Pakistani, Muddassir Khalid said “agreed, irresponsible statement by Waqar” reacting to Bhogle and said Rizwan’s “intention was not to show off or put anyone down”.
Bakhtawer Shaikh, a banker, strategy specialist and risk analyst from Karachi, termed Younis’s comments as “rubbish”.