Wasay Habib and Qamar Raza (also known as Iffi Bhai) are cricket analysts from Pakistan. Qamar Raza has been involved in the cricket Analysis community for more than 15 years and has been seen giving analysis of Pakistan cricket matches on News Channels over the years. Wasay Habib has also been active in the cricket analysis community for many years.
In 2019, the duo gained noticeability for sharing their frank opinions on cricket players and matches on the channel “Cricket Cafe”. After some months, the duo started appearing on “Wasay Habib” Youtube channel and has been continuing on it since then.
Background of Wasay Habib and Qamar Raza (Iffi Bhai)
During an interview, Wasay Habib revealed that he started working as a writer, research for Geo Super TV. He also wrote documentary of Mohammad Ali Shah. During the same interview, Qamar Raza revealed that Wasay used to write dialogues for his show as he has a good vocabulary.
One must note that Wasay Habib’s primary job is something non-related to cricket. He didn’t disclosed it though that what exactly he does to earn money apart from cricket analysis on his Youtube channel.
On the other hand, Qamar Raza has been involved in TV program production mainly related to cricket and hockey. He is a die hard fan of hockey and loves it even more than cricket.
How did Cricket BBQ Channel started?
Wasay Habib and Qamar Raza iffi bhai had been working with Saqib Farshori, who was at that time, a producer for GEO super TV. After the change in regime, Saqib Farshori along with many other seniors were let go from Geo Super TV channel. During this time, Saqib started a Youtube channel where he would do Cricket Analysis. After some time, he started inviting Qamar Raza and Wasay Habib with whom he had previously worked at Geo Super TV. The unhesistant talk of Wasay and Qamar Raza mixed with sarcasm and humor attracted a lot of viewership from the Indian region. However, the frequency of videos started diminishing as Saqib Farshori got busy in his new job as he started working as the EP of A sports.
Wasay Habib formed his Youtube channel and started making videos on cricket analysis. Knowing that the camaradrie between him and Qamar Raza was liked the audience, he started inviting him on almost every video and since then the the channel has witnessed substantial growth. They get the maximum viewership whenever Pakistan cricket team loses as they tend to bash them in both sarcastic and hilarious manner.
Controversial Style of Talking
Both Wasay and Qamar Raza are often known to come hard with criticism on the cricket players and administration, especially when it comes to Pakistan Cricket players and PCB. Qamar Raza’s trademark style often includes continous talking in high-pitched angry tone that often cause him shortage of breath.
They often get substantial viewership on their Youtube Channel whenever Pakistan loses match as they tend to bash them very hard. They do however provide their reasoning in their cricket analysis. Many of their live audiences and commentors often praise them for the performance prediction, pre-match and post-match cricket analysis.
Wasay and Qamar Raza are often a staunch critique of Babar Azam’s batting style and often calls him “Ghante Ka King” (after 2 :40 minute) in response to Babar Azam’s die hard fans. They often use the term “Shabbarati” for cricketer Mohammad Rizwan and “Ruhani Mamu” for Nasser Hussain. On multiple occasions, they have hailed Virat Kohli as “Cricket Ke Abbu” in light humor implying his batting prowess, range of strokes and ability to win matches in crucial situations.
While their videos often give insights and understanding of the game, it would be fair to say that their language at times in not family-friendly.
Controversial Words for Irfan Khan
In the 2023 World Cup held in India, Afghanistan caused a major upstage by defeating Pakistan convincingly. After the match, Irfan Pathan who was there on the ground for the post-match cricket analysis, started celebrating the victory with Bhangra dance with Afghanistan cricketer Rashid Khan. This caused a massive uproar in Pakistan and many from Pakistan Cricket Analysis community expressed displeasure on it. Wasay and Qamar Raza too expressed their anger for such act and Wasay used derogatory words (at 0.50 minute, Link 2) for the Indian cricketer. However upon seeing negative written feeback from the live viewers on Youtube, the duo ended the video quickly. Qamar Raza later give apology for the act (after 0:25 minute)
