Moin Khan

 Moin Khan

Renowned for his combative skills, Moin Khan has spent most of his career slugging it out with Rashid Latif for the keeper's gloves. His batting ability has generally kept him in front although Latif is a better keeper. An effective rather than stylish batsman, Moin relishes a crisis and has held together Pakistan's lower order time and again. His quick feet and improvisation are even more productive in one-day cricket where he scores at speed. Behind the stumps, he is the chirpiest of keepers and the stump mike has revealed his full repertoire to the world. "Well bowled" and "shabash" are his most familiar soundbites. As captain, Moin struggled to get his way amid Pakistan's incessant in-fighting and was too defensive, as when England triumphed in the gloom of Karachi. Moin played through most of the 2003-04 season, missing only the last two Tests against India due to injury. However, his wicketkeeping form wasn't entirely convincing, and with Kamran Akmal staking a strong claim, Moin's days as an international cricketer might be drawing to a close.

Saeed Anwar

 Saeed Anwar

 Majestic timing and placement were Saeed Anwar's hallmarks. He was an opener capable of electrifying starts in all cricket through graceful strokeplay rather than brute force. He loved driving through the off side with minimal footwork. He annihilated any bowler offering width outside off stump although he too regularly guided the ball straight into the hands of fourth slip or gully.

 Saeed Anwar

He first came to prominence as a one-day player but soon achieved equal success in Test cricket. Anwar's fielding was weak, he was injury prone, and his footwork became less assured as his career drew to a close. Opting to take a break from the game after the death of his daughter in August 2001, he was a lesser force when he came back, though he still managed a hundred against India in the 2003 World Cup. His batting prowess on the wane, Anwar finally announced his retirement just before Pakistan's home series against Bangladesh. He held the record for the highest ODI score till Sachin Tendulkar upstaged him, and on his day he was one of the most gracefully compelling players on the international stage.

Waqar Younus

      Waqar Younus

The man who really put the reverse into swing. Waqar Younis bucked the 1980s trend of pitching fast and short by pitching fast and full. Not an obvious recipe for success until you factor in prodigious late inswing, which was designed to smash into the base of leg stump or the batsman's toes. In his youth, he was one of the fastest ever. Waqar's surging run was a glorious sight - and an incredible strain on his body. His method of aiming for the stumps rather than the batsman earned him the best strike rate of any bowler with over 200 Test wickets. It could have been better: back injuries cut short his prime, but determination has always resurrected him, although he was easily pushed over the line that divides aggression and intimidation.

Waqar Younus   

  He looked to have been put out to pasture by the end of 2000, but before long he had been appointed captain for the 2001 tour to England. Initial results suggested that this was an inspired move, but in October 2002 he was at the helm as Pakistan crumbled to 59 and 53 all out against Australia in Sharjah. He managed to retain the job for the World Cup, but a disastrous tournament - Pakistan beat only Holland and Namibia - meant an unceremonious exit. Unable to force his way back into a side building for the future, he announced his retirement in April 2004.

    Waqar Younus

  As a batsman, lusty blows were his staple, but Waqar batted with the air of a man who thinks he could have done better.

 Waqar Younus

The next stage of his career began in March 2006 when he was appointed as Pakistan's bowling coach, and he has also been a regular in the commentary box.

Wasim Akram

                      Wasim Akram

                                        In a nutshell:-
     Perhaps the best left-arm fast bowler of all time, Wasim Akram could make the ball walk and talk like no one else did. An explosive, exciting genius who could change the game with the bat as well.

                                               Wasim Akram

   A stunning match-winner:-

     Over a 19-year international career, he took wickets all over the world, in Tests and ODIs, with a consistency that was mind-boggling

Wasim Akram

                                                     Wasim Akram
     Left-arm explorer:-

     A triumph of the imagination, he broadened the scope of what could be done in his art with talent and hard work, and left fast bowling unrecognisable from what it was before him

Wasim Akram

                                                                Wasim Akram
   Profile:-

A dream cricketer. At his best Wasim Akram plays like most of us would wish to. He has complete mastery over swing and seam, and sometimes moves the ball both ways in one delivery. All this comes at high speed from a quick, ball-concealing action, and is backed up by the threat of a dangerous bouncer or deceptive slower delivery. Akram is rated by many as the best left-arm fast bowler of all time, and his career record certainly bears that out - along with the high regard of his contemporaries. He hit like a kicking horse, but batsmanship was one skill in which Akram underachieved, despite a monumental 257 against Zimbabwe in Sheikhupura in 1996-97. He was the natural successor to Imran Khan as Pakistan's leader and captain, but the match-fixing controversies of the 1990s harmed him, blunting his edge and dimming his lustre. Though he reached the 500-wicket landmark in ODIs in the 2003 World Cup, he was among the eight players dumped after Pakistan's miserable performance. He retired shortly after, following a brief spell with Hampshire.

Shahid Afridi

                                                              Afridi  
 Of Shahid Afridi it can safely be said that cricket never has and never will see another like him. To say he is an allrounder is to say Albert Einstein was a scientist; it tells a criminally bare story.

                                             Shahid Afridi    

For a start, the slant of his all-round skills only became clear ten years into his career; he is a leg-spinning allrounder. Variety is his calling and as well as a traditional leg-break, he has two googlies, a conventional offie and a lethal faster one, though this is increasingly rare. All come with the threat of considerable, late drift. He fairly hustles through overs, which in limited-over formats is a weapon in itself and the package is dangerous.

                                                     Afridi     

But forever associated with him will be his madcap batting, the prospect of which is a crowd-puller the world over. He is a compulsive basher, literally unable to control his urges to slog every ball that comes his way, and not much of it is classical. Often spectacular results are at hand; he owns, for example, two of the fastest ODI hundreds, including the fastest one ever in his first innings ever at the age of 16. His career strike rates are nearly unmatched. But mostly, anywhere in the order, consistency has been missing.

                                                              Afridi    

  Despite a healthy Test career, he gave up on the format in 2006, pre-empting men such as Andrew Flintoff, to maximise fully a limited-overs career.

                                                      Shahid Afridi

Twenty20 is something he could've been made for and he is probably the most lethal player of the format, having been player of the tournament for the inaugural edition of the World Twenty20 in 2007 and led Pakistan to the title two years later with matchwinning all-round hands in the semi and final.

                                                        Shahid Afridi 

 Maturity has often threatened to gatecrash his career and leadership is a just reward, but it will not change much in a truly unique career.