-- By Fazayal Shabbir
Pakistan cricket team never ceases to surprise me. It keeps on churning out one talented player after another with great speed but sadly also keeps on discarding one talented players after another with faster speed. On the other hand India protects its good players most of the time. I can bet my life that if Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly, VVS, Kumble or Harbhajan were Pakistani cricketers they would have retired 5 years back or discarded by PCB. Even today we see talented players like Afridi, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Abdur Razzak out of team. While India protected Sachin, Dravid and Harbhajan when they went through a difficult time. If I start writing obituaries of careers of amazingly talented Pakistani players, the article will run in multiple volumes.
However, I would like to concentrate on three amazing spinners from Pakistan whose career figures dont do justice to their talent at all. Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed and Danish Kaneria have more than 650 test wickets among them. Its painful to see that they couldn't come in the league of spinners like Murali, Warne, Kumble or even Harbhajan. Lets analyse each of them.
Mushtaq Ahmed: Three leg spinners started their careers at a time when it was beginning to be considered a dying art. Shane Warne, Anil Kumble and Mushtaq Ahmed were like a breath of fresh air in early nineties. There was nothing more exciting for a 9 year old boy like me than seeing a leg spinner bowling a batsman round his legs. Mushtaq Ahmed was more fascinating to me as I would never understand howcome he would turn the ball both ways with similar action. I also have liking for him because I share my birthday with him. I had not learnt the concept of googly till then. Infact I started observing every delivery of Mushtaq Ahmed and used to guess whether it would turn to right or left. I would be wrong most of the times and gave up. During 1992 World Cup it was nearly impossible to detect his googlies. In 1995 would any cricket expert have believed that at the end of their careers Anil Kumble will have 600+ test wickets, Shane Warne will have 700+ wickets while Mushtaq Ahmed will not even reach 200 test wickets. Unfortunately Mushtaq's career started spiralling downwards and he wasn't given the needed support by his board. Between March 1998 to Oct 2003 he played just sixteen test matches taking just 30 wickets and just seventeen ODIs taking 17 wickets. Infact his career was more or less over by early 2001. he was recalled for 2003 South Africa home series in which he couldnt make an impact and was discarded forever. However he continued to play well in county cricket, played decently in ICL and has 1407 first class wickets. His talent can be gauged from the fact that he is now bowling coach of England for a couple of years and at the moment England has the best bowling attack in cricket.
Saqlain Mushtaq: The man who has changed off spin bowling in the cricket world forever. He started off as a nineteen year old accurate off spin bowler for Pakistan. He was so accurate that his captain would give him his first over after 30 overs have been bowled in an ODI and he would return with super economical figures. The fastest to reach 100, 150, 200 and 250 wickets in ODIs. The inventor of the off spinners answer to legspinners googly, "The Doosra". As a child I was so impressed by him that I started bowling off spin and even tried to model my own bowling action after him. I was sure that he was going to be the Sachin Tendulkar of all bowling records. He was so young and had so many wickets under his belt already. His bowling average of of 21.78, economy rate of 4.29 and strike rate of 30.4 in ODIs just shows how much of difference he made in ODIs. His performance against India in 1998 Chennai test is remembered even now. Unfortunately even his career followed that of his namesake Mushtaq. If he was given half as many chances given to Harbhajan he would have been among the highest wicket takers in cricket.The final nail in his career's coffin was when he returned with figures of 43-4-204-1 after Sehwag's assault. His international career was over after that at the age of just 27 when he had nearly 500 international wickets. He however continued to play well for his county and even qualified to play for England. However he signed for ICL and that ended his chance of even playing in English colours. He even invented another variation "Teesra" or "Jalebi" whose video can be seen on youtube where he is bamboozling batsmen in ICL. He is younger than Sachin Tendulkar and Muralitharan by more than three years, I cant imagine what kind of record he would have had if only luck was with him.
Danish Kaneria: The highest test wickets by a Pakistani spinner would have been by either of the two Mushtaqs if they were given chances. However that title now rests with Danish Kaneria. One of the cleanest leg spinner action and a well disguised googly. He is just 30 years old and even he is more or less discarded by PCB. 261 wickets in 61 test matches and 954 first class wickets is no mean achievement. After Kumble and Shane Warne he could have taken the mantle of the leg spinners from them. He had a very successful stint with Essex as well. He was away from controversies for a considerable amount of time but sadly got involved in a spot fixing controversy and was also arrested. He was cleared by the police. He was also picked up in series against South Africa but not allowed to board the plane to UAE at the last moment. No reason was given for his exclusion. I would really want him to make a comeback in Pakistan team and take many more wickets. He has good years of cricket still left in him.
Mushtaq Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq and Danish Kaneria. Any cricket board would have done anything to have even one of them in their team. They had talent to take 650 test wickets individually sadly thats what all three of them combined have.
Pakistan cricket team never ceases to surprise me. It keeps on churning out one talented player after another with great speed but sadly also keeps on discarding one talented players after another with faster speed. On the other hand India protects its good players most of the time. I can bet my life that if Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly, VVS, Kumble or Harbhajan were Pakistani cricketers they would have retired 5 years back or discarded by PCB. Even today we see talented players like Afridi, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Abdur Razzak out of team. While India protected Sachin, Dravid and Harbhajan when they went through a difficult time. If I start writing obituaries of careers of amazingly talented Pakistani players, the article will run in multiple volumes.
However, I would like to concentrate on three amazing spinners from Pakistan whose career figures dont do justice to their talent at all. Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed and Danish Kaneria have more than 650 test wickets among them. Its painful to see that they couldn't come in the league of spinners like Murali, Warne, Kumble or even Harbhajan. Lets analyse each of them.
Mushtaq Ahmed: Three leg spinners started their careers at a time when it was beginning to be considered a dying art. Shane Warne, Anil Kumble and Mushtaq Ahmed were like a breath of fresh air in early nineties. There was nothing more exciting for a 9 year old boy like me than seeing a leg spinner bowling a batsman round his legs. Mushtaq Ahmed was more fascinating to me as I would never understand howcome he would turn the ball both ways with similar action. I also have liking for him because I share my birthday with him. I had not learnt the concept of googly till then. Infact I started observing every delivery of Mushtaq Ahmed and used to guess whether it would turn to right or left. I would be wrong most of the times and gave up. During 1992 World Cup it was nearly impossible to detect his googlies. In 1995 would any cricket expert have believed that at the end of their careers Anil Kumble will have 600+ test wickets, Shane Warne will have 700+ wickets while Mushtaq Ahmed will not even reach 200 test wickets. Unfortunately Mushtaq's career started spiralling downwards and he wasn't given the needed support by his board. Between March 1998 to Oct 2003 he played just sixteen test matches taking just 30 wickets and just seventeen ODIs taking 17 wickets. Infact his career was more or less over by early 2001. he was recalled for 2003 South Africa home series in which he couldnt make an impact and was discarded forever. However he continued to play well in county cricket, played decently in ICL and has 1407 first class wickets. His talent can be gauged from the fact that he is now bowling coach of England for a couple of years and at the moment England has the best bowling attack in cricket.
Saqlain Mushtaq: The man who has changed off spin bowling in the cricket world forever. He started off as a nineteen year old accurate off spin bowler for Pakistan. He was so accurate that his captain would give him his first over after 30 overs have been bowled in an ODI and he would return with super economical figures. The fastest to reach 100, 150, 200 and 250 wickets in ODIs. The inventor of the off spinners answer to legspinners googly, "The Doosra". As a child I was so impressed by him that I started bowling off spin and even tried to model my own bowling action after him. I was sure that he was going to be the Sachin Tendulkar of all bowling records. He was so young and had so many wickets under his belt already. His bowling average of of 21.78, economy rate of 4.29 and strike rate of 30.4 in ODIs just shows how much of difference he made in ODIs. His performance against India in 1998 Chennai test is remembered even now. Unfortunately even his career followed that of his namesake Mushtaq. If he was given half as many chances given to Harbhajan he would have been among the highest wicket takers in cricket.The final nail in his career's coffin was when he returned with figures of 43-4-204-1 after Sehwag's assault. His international career was over after that at the age of just 27 when he had nearly 500 international wickets. He however continued to play well for his county and even qualified to play for England. However he signed for ICL and that ended his chance of even playing in English colours. He even invented another variation "Teesra" or "Jalebi" whose video can be seen on youtube where he is bamboozling batsmen in ICL. He is younger than Sachin Tendulkar and Muralitharan by more than three years, I cant imagine what kind of record he would have had if only luck was with him.
Danish Kaneria: The highest test wickets by a Pakistani spinner would have been by either of the two Mushtaqs if they were given chances. However that title now rests with Danish Kaneria. One of the cleanest leg spinner action and a well disguised googly. He is just 30 years old and even he is more or less discarded by PCB. 261 wickets in 61 test matches and 954 first class wickets is no mean achievement. After Kumble and Shane Warne he could have taken the mantle of the leg spinners from them. He had a very successful stint with Essex as well. He was away from controversies for a considerable amount of time but sadly got involved in a spot fixing controversy and was also arrested. He was cleared by the police. He was also picked up in series against South Africa but not allowed to board the plane to UAE at the last moment. No reason was given for his exclusion. I would really want him to make a comeback in Pakistan team and take many more wickets. He has good years of cricket still left in him.
Mushtaq Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq and Danish Kaneria. Any cricket board would have done anything to have even one of them in their team. They had talent to take 650 test wickets individually sadly thats what all three of them combined have.
