Saqlain Mushtaq born December 29, 1976 is a Pakistani cricketer. Born in Lahore, he made his international debut against Sri Lanka at Peshawar in 1995 and last played a Test in 2004, against India at Multan.
A new-age offspinner who loves variation, Saqlain Mushtaq was perhaps the first offspinner to master the doosra, a delivery that spins away from the batsman even though it is delivered with an offspinner’s action. Saqlain has a fast, short-stepping action with a halting delivery, and has a propensity to bowl no-balls, unusually for a bowler with such a short run. He is criticised for attempting too much variation and he often throws in the doosra the first time a batsman faces. Saqlain’s international career got off to a splendid start – he was the fastest bowler to 100 one-day wickets, and his phenomenal control meant that he regularly bowled at the death. But his finest moment arguably came in a Test match, at Chennai in 1998-99, when his ten-for allowed Pakistan to sneak nerve-tingling 12-run win against India.
Saqlain invented the delivery known as the “doosra”, an off-spinner’s delivery which is bowled with an action similar to that of an off-break, but which causes the ball to spin in the opposite direction. Saqlain became well-known for this variation ball, which is difficult for batsman to ‘pick’, and is hence a very effective weapon. Despite the success of the doosra, however, he received criticism for overusing it. His other variation was the arm-ball, which again uses a similar action to the off-break, but causes the ball to go straight on without turning.
His bowling average of 21.78 in ODIs made him an excellent bowler who was regularly used down to slow down the batting innings of opposition. He picked up 288 wickets in one dayers and 208 wickets in test cricket. Although he maintained an excellent average in one dayers his test average of 29.83 was on the higher side and it was this that was primarily responsible for his ouster from the Pakistani team. his stock has fallen a long way since then, with Shoaib Malik, a better batsman than Saqlain, usurping the spinner’s spot in the ODI line-up and Danish Kaneria becoming the frontline Test spinner. Saqlain did get an opportunity to have a go at the Indians again in the 2003-04 series, but unflattering figures of 1 for 204 at Multan meant that he was quickly consigned to the scrap heap.
Recent Discussions