Saqlain Mushtaq: what went wrong?

[AaronK]

I wanted to start this thread to talk about Saqalin Mushtaq and trying to come up with a logical explaination on what went wrong with this great bowler.. last time i saw him playing..during late 90s he was at the peak of his career.. he had a succesful tour of india.. successful world cup where he took a hatrick along with 19 wickets..and had a successful tour of Aus as well..a decline in series followed Aus tour and injuries forced him out of the team. although he tried to make a come back and was part of the pakistani team on world cup 2003 and Indian tour of Pakistan on 2004 but still he was out most of the team between those years..

I heard rumers about his relationship with Inzi and pakistan cricket board.. do you guys think that Pakistani cricket board maybe handled Saqlain wrong..suppose if Saqlain was to play for England or other team. would he have longer career?

 

[kingkallis]

I wanted to start this thread to talk about Saqalin Mushtaq and trying to come up with a logical explaination on what went wrong with this great bowler.. last time i saw him playing..during late 90s he was at the peak of his career.. he had a succesful tour of india.. successful world cup where he took a hatrick along with 19 wickets..and had a successful tour of Aus as well..a decline in series followed Aus tour and injuries forced him out of the team. although he tried to make a come back and was part of the pakistani team on world cup 2003 and Indian tour of Pakistan on 2004 but still he was out most of the team between those years..

I heard rumers about his relationship with Inzi and pakistan cricket board.. do you guys think that Pakistani cricket board maybe handled Saqlain wrong..suppose if Saqlain was to play for England or other team. would he have longer career?

Obviously!

PCB killed so many talents and Saqi was one of them. He would have taken 600 ODI wickets and would have been proved himself to be one of the best ODI players ever but PCB just couldnt handle him well and ego of Pakistani players and administrators are always bigger than Himalaya.........

He had so much to offer......what a bowler!

 

[pup11]

Obviously!

PCB killed so many talents and Saqi was one of them. He would have taken 600 ODI wickets and would have been proved himself to be one of the best ODI players ever but PCB just couldnt handle him well and ego of Pakistani players and administrators are always bigger than Himalaya.........

He had so much to offer......what a bowler!

I don't think that's entirely true, he kind of self-destructed AFAIC, after all his sucess I think he started to take things for granted, he was so much in love with his "doosra", that he started ignoring the importance of bowling good off-spinners, and really that's from where his decline started, his fitness problem didn't help either.

 

[BoyBrumby]

It was his knees that did for him as a performer at the highest level. Spent pretty much two years out of the game and, although he's made a semi-successful return after looking finished for good, he's never been the force of old. A televised spell for Ireland just after his return was almost painful to watch, so far had his powers been reduced.

 

[subshakerz]

This gives you an idea how good he was in his heyday:

YouTube - Saqlain Mushtaq 5 for 29 V Australia 96/97 C&U Series

 

[0RI0N]

^^^
cricket in the 90's...good times good times...
Saqi in the mid to late 90's was a force in ODI's.
Pity about the injuries and the crazy PCB.
In the top 3 greatest ODI bowlers of all time.

 

[nightprowler10]

This gives you an idea how good he was in his heyday:

YouTube - Saqlain Mushtaq 5 for 29 V Australia 96/97 C&U Series

I remember that series. One of the last I watched before leaving Pakistan. Hardly a spectacular spell though, nowhere near one of his best.

 

[Smudge]

I had the pleasure of bowling alongside him (as we both bowled to Saleem Elahi) in the nets in Dunedin in the mid-1990s, at the time where he was working on his arm ball. A delight to watch.

 

[Glacier]

I had the pleasure of bowling alongside him (as we both bowled to Saleem Elahi) in the nets in Dunedin in the mid-1990s, at the time where he was working on his arm ball. A delight to watch.

Thats fantastic.

Out of curiosity, how fast do you reckon he bowled? Quicker then the average club quickie? Also did he bowl the doosra in the nets?

 

[Smudge]

Nah, not quicker than the average club quickly. Quicker than my leggies, but I saw medium-pacers in Dunedin senior cricket who bowled comfortably quicker than him. He was still learning the doosra at that stage - the coach we were training with, Billy Ibadulla, was going through the arm-ball/toppie with him.

 

[DingDong]

im not sure. but i think something definately went wrong because he got dropped.

 

[bagapath]

I had the pleasure of bowling alongside him (as we both bowled to Saleem Elahi) in the nets in Dunedin in the mid-1990s, at the time where he was working on his arm ball. A delight to watch.

awesome voltman. my respects.

saqi was kind of self destructing himself and was on his way out but the mauling he got in the hands of sehwag at multan shut the door firmly on him. very similar how imran finished the career of prasanna's and jayasuriya ended prabhakar's.

 

[Smudge]

I beat Elahi's bat just once, but that was like a wicket to me.

It was while this game was on - I had to leave the match halfway through to go to the indoor nets, but I wasn't complaining at all. A 16 year old getting to have a crack at those chaps? Sweet.

 

[bagapath]

I beat Elahi's bat just once, but that was like a wicket to me.

that is far better than my cricket anecdotes; like having a beer with dennis lillee or swapping hotel rooms with ricky ponting. would have loved to be hit for a six by ricky. beating the bat of an international cricketer is really cool indeed.

 

[Migara]

His doosra was found out by the SC batsmen, and after that he had no second plan against them. His performance against IND and SL went from magnificient to horrible within 4-5 years. And players like Tendulkar, Ganguly, de Silva and Jayasuriya started feasting on him after they found out what he does with his doosra. If he playd more, would have been found out by non-SC batsmen as well. Unless he has added some second-third plans to his bowling the script would have been an epic fail.

 

[vic_orthdox]

I remember how talk went around at one stage that he ran in quicker for his doosra than his normal ball, although he rectified this. A bit like how Australia picked Paul Adams' variations because his "normal" legspinner (i.e. spun towards the right hander) was always quicker than his stock ball, which spun away from the right-hander.

 

[Xuhaib]

Saqlain was hugely unlucky I believe.

every spinner goes through a period where due to injuries, getting found out or other factors become predictable and loose their potency and they have to alter or reinvent themselves. Warne went through it so did Murali, Kumble, Harbhajan and guys like Kaneria and Monty are going through it right now. Just before the 2003 WC Saqlain had 2 pretty decent series against Australia and Zimbabwe where he was getting wickets through his off breaks, changing of flight and his new discovery a fast straighter one, he was bowling his doosras fewer and fewer in those series so Saqlain was well on his way on reinventing his bowling but then 2003 WC happened Saqlain faced the chop unneccessarily and then got injured he was brough abck when he was short of match practice and was fed to a rampaging Shewag on a flat track this led to another axing his injury recurred with Kaneria going through a purple period PCB decided Saqlain had no future and gave him their typical step motherly treatment and Saqi never recovered from it.

I am not saying its a guarantee that Saqi would have discovered his peak2-3 year form but knowing his talents I am pretty sure he would have found a way to be successful again after all he was just 25 when 2003 happened.

 

[bagapath]

after all he was just 25 when 2003 happened.

didnt realize he was that young when he played his last game. pity he has missed out on 70 more tests and about 300 wickets.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

didnt realize he was that young when he played his last game. pity he has missed out on 70 more tests and about 300 wickets.

If Saqlain is as young as Cricinfo says he is, I'm the King of China (or the working Yorkshire miner).

Real shame he fell away when he did, though. Delightful player to watch at his peak.

 

[BoyBrumby]

If Saqlain is as young as Cricinfo says he is, I'm the King of China (or the working Yorkshire miner).

Ha, always good to see a random Spitting Image reference.

Still think any other answer than "his knees were ****ed" is wrong tho.