Spin duo of Mushtaq, Saqlain to play against SA

Entertainment Cricket and Other Sports
1

**Spin duo of Mushtaq, Saqlain to play against SA **

By Waheed Khan

KARACHI: Pakistan’s seasoned spinners, Mushtaq Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq might be brought together one more time for the home Test series against South Africa in September-October.

‘The News’ has learnt from reliable sources that both of them spoke in detail with the PCB chief executive Rameez Raja during his private visit to London last month.

“Both of them conveyed to him that they were keen to play against South Africa and had the form and fitness to prove they warranted their places in the Pakistan team,” said a well informed source. According to him, both the spinners were adamant that they were not being treated fairly by the selectors and should be given a chance against the South Africans.

The 33-year old Mushtaq Ahmed whose last appearance for Pakistan was in the Test match against New Zealand in Auckland in February 2001 has been in outstanding form for Sussex in the English County Championship this season and has also signed up to play for a provincial side in South Africa this winter.

**The leg spinner who has taken 161 Test and 183 One-day International wickets is said to have conveyed to Rameez that if called by Pakistan he would skip the South African contract.

Saqlain still only 27 years of age has also been playing for Surrey in England and was in fact called up by the selectors for the home series against Bangladesh, but he sent a letter to the Board informing them that although he was available for both the series against Bangladesh and South Africa if possible he should be excused for the Bangladesh matches.

The off spinner has an astonishing strike rate of 205 wickets in just 47 Tests and 288 wickets in 168 One-day Internationals. The source disclosed that the possibility of the two Mushtaq’s bowling in tandem once again was a strong one since even the Pakistan team captain and coach had discussed the possibility of bringing back Mushtaq just for the series against South Africa.**

“The feeling among the Pakistan team management is that with their experience and strike rate both the spinners and with Muhammad Sami and Shoaib Akhtar sharing the new ball with an allrounder to back them up, Pakistan would be able to field a very effective and potent bowling attack against the South Africans.”

**“The feeling is that the South Africans mainly Graeme Smith, Herschelle Gibbs and Boeta Dippenaar are suspect against quality spin bowling and this would be the most effective way to attack the South Africans on low bounced and variable tracks in the coming series,” the source disclosed.

Many critics are also believe that Pakistan should not make any experiments against South Africa and go in with their most experienced team as it has not won a home series against a quality side since 1998.**

2

Great to see good ol' Mushy being given a runaround; a tireless workhorse indeed.

He should be able be well among the wickets on tracks at home.

3

I think making Saqlain sit out throught the last couple of years has been the biggest mistake. His record speaks ofr himslef. I mean he has one of the best records ever by a bowler. Hell his record is better then Murali who is termed as the best bowler ever. I agree at times he was not taking wickets but just like we kept Inzi or YoYo after a lot of failure I think Saqi deserved to be kept in the team too. He is an exceptional bowler and has done wonders for us over the years. Keep in mind he was taking wickets with Wasim and Waqar in the team. I personally think he should come back as a regualr member of the team. It would be nice to have a quality spinner in the line up.



Career Statistics:
TESTS
 (including 02/01/2003)
                      M    I  NO  Runs   HS     Ave     SR 100  50   
Batting & Fielding   47   74  14   902  101*  15.03  25.86   1   2

                      O      R    W    Ave   BBI    5  10    SR  Econ
Bowling            2274.3 5932  205  28.93  8-164  13   3  66.5  2.60

ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS
 (including 25/02/2003)
                      M    I  NO  Runs   HS     Ave     SR 100  50   
Batting & Fielding  168   97  37   710   37*  11.83  49.58   0   0

                      O      R    W    Ave   BBI   4w  5w    SR  Econ
Bowling            1453.4 6223  288  21.60  5-20   11   6  30.2  4.28
4

About Mushi, he is alot better player then what his record shows.
But with Kaneria in the side, I will highly doubt that we would needing 3rd spinner.
Saqlain has a very good chance of coming back against South Africa, I don't think its wise to play 3 spinners on any kind of track in the world.
With Shoaib and Sami opening, followed by an allrounder and 2 specialist spinners, our bowling will be very dangerous.
Mushi's comeback will depend very much on how Kaneria performs against Bangladesh.
I would love to see him comeback though.
For Saqlain, you just can't pick and choose which series to play or not, specially when you are dropped from the side for bad performance.

5

LahoriMunda, you nailed it. :k:

I can trust words of Rameez but chances are slim(you just can’t trust PCB).

I definitely want back Saqi and Mushi in the team together destroying the opposition. Both are talented spinners of Pakistan Cricket.

6

yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss mushi bhaijaan finally considered for the national side, well deserved ofcourse lets hope his long exile from the test arena will be worth while…

get in there my son oh yess!!! :dhimpak:

p.s " it needed rameez raja to consider the spin duo’ for october series, if it was that good for nothing, sariyaaal, ghoseela aamir sohail :mad: it might have been a different story

7

the problem with saqi is that batsmen have figured him out. what once was a lethal "doosra' is not ordinarily picked out by batsmen...he needs to go under the tutelage of abdul qadir and get some advice...

8

Saqlain is an offspinner I dont think Qadir can help him with anything. As far as batsmen picking up the doosra is concerned I dont think anyone has. He bowls the doosra with almost the same grip and arm action as his regular off spin. Yes, he has been guilty of over using the doosra at times and thus becoming more predictable.