However, the podcast has also sparked debate on social media over Younis’s choices in comparisons between Indian and Pakistani cricketers.
The discussion began when Mishra asked Younis who Pakistan’s last superstar was. The former fast bowler named Mohammad Amir, Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi as superstars.
Mishra then mentioned several former Pakistani cricketers, including Shahid Afridi, Wasim Akram, Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf, saying that although he was Indian, he remembered their performances against India but could not recall similar performances from Babar Azam.
Responding to the observation, Younis said Babar’s challenge was that he was largely alone in the current Pakistani batting line-up.
“Babar is alone. If you had four other names alongside him, the pressure on him would be reduced somewhere,” Younis said.
He added that Pakistan had several prominent players in its top six during the 1990s, while it was difficult to name players from the current line-up apart from Babar.
The hour-and-a-half-long podcast was recorded in Sharjah and featured Younis discussing Pakistan cricket, the current team’s performances and comparisons between players from India and Pakistan.
While his defence of Babar attracted attention, his responses during a rapid-fire segment also became a subject of criticism.
Younis chose Sachin Tendulkar over Inzamam-ul-Haq, Virat Kohli over Babar Azam, Jasprit Bumrah over Shaheen Afridi and Mahendra Singh Dhoni over Javed Miandad. However, when asked to choose between Kapil Dev and Imran Khan, he preferred the former Pakistan captain.
Babar Azam’s form under scrutiny
Questions have been raised about Babar Azam’s form over the past two to three years.
He also failed to produce significant performances in the ongoing tri-series involving England and Sri Lanka. Cricket experts have criticised the manner in which he has been getting dismissed during the tournament.
Babar last scored an international century in November last year, in an ODI against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi. It was his first international hundred in two years.
However, he has struggled to deliver consistent performances in both Test and limited-overs cricket since then.
A full viewing of the podcast, which was released on Wednesday, suggests that Younis defended Babar by referring to the number of high-profile players who were part of Pakistan’s 1990s team.
However, short clips of his remarks circulated on social media and became a topic of discussion among cricket fans.
An X user named Azhar Khan wrote that, according to Younis, Babar had been unable to win matches single-handedly over the past 10 years because he lacked big names around him, unlike Virat Kohli, who had managed to do so several times.
He sarcastically questioned whether, under that logic, Pakistan needed 10 superstars simply to help one batter perform his job.
Another user, Mansoor Khan, criticised Babar’s continued poor form, saying that although the batter had not received enough support from the middle order, it could not be used as an excuse.
He argued that if players such as Salman Ali Agha, Hasan Nawaz and Shadab Khan could score centuries while batting alongside other players, similar performances could also be expected from Babar.
Dhoni vs Miandad and Bumrah vs Imran Khan
During the podcast, Mishra also asked Younis to choose between several Indian and Pakistani cricketers.
When asked to pick between Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis selected Tendulkar. He also preferred Virat Kohli over Babar Azam and Jasprit Bumrah over Shaheen Afridi.
In another comparison, he chose Imran Khan over Kapil Dev but selected former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni over Javed Miandad.
Faisal Iqbal, Miandad’s nephew, criticised Younis’s response, pointing out that Miandad had carried Pakistan’s batting line-up in Test and ODI cricket for 21 years.
In a post on X, Iqbal said it was disappointing to see Dhoni being preferred over Miandad.
He also criticised Younis for repeatedly supporting Babar despite his poor form and agreeing with views that, according to him, Pakistani cricket fans had been pointing out for a long time.
Waqar Younis praised as an ambassador for Pakistan cricket
While several users criticised Younis’s choices, others praised his defence of Pakistani players.
Cricket analyst Umar Farooq Kalson described Younis as one of Pakistan cricket’s finest ambassadors, saying he had consistently maintained a balanced and careful position when discussing Pakistani players.
He contrasted Younis’s approach with that of some former cricketers who, according to him, make harsh or inappropriate remarks about their former teammates on international platforms.
Another user, Malik Umar Gohar, argued that Kohli’s success should also be viewed in the context of the support he received from other players.
He pointed to a World Cup match in which Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja helped take their team to victory, stressing that cricket was a team sport.
Younis also discussed the lack of regular India-Pakistan cricket matches during the podcast.
Mishra asked why Pakistan’s current players appeared to struggle against India, even when they were otherwise good performers, unlike players from previous generations such as Shahid Afridi, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Javed Miandad.
Younis said the lack of regular matches between the two countries was one of the reasons.
He argued that when India and Pakistan do not play each other regularly and meet only once every year or two, fans cannot consistently see the best performances from their top players.
He also pointed to Pakistan’s limited participation in regular Test cricket, describing these as issues that needed to be addressed to improve the game.
Speaking about Miandad’s famous last-ball six, Younis said the shot had created a wave of excitement across Pakistan.
He added that matches before that moment had rarely been so close, which made the six particularly significant. Although similar moments had occurred since then, he said Miandad’s shot had been unique at the time.
