Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
Saqlain never bowled well in England (played a whole 1 Test here in fact) and I don't have any memory of how he bowled in Australia in 1999/2000 either. Saqlain was indeed a decent Test bowler - on a turning wicket (even a very slow one) he was always a substantial handful. But on a good batting or seaming deck like any fingerspinner top-class batsmen would have no difficulty with him.^ Thats interesting. He did have a decent test record though...I think he was averaging in the last 20s..and did manage to come up with 5-6 wicket haults against Australia, England overseas, did manage to bowl brilliantly against India, the one team both Warne and Murali failed against.
When Pakistan produced turners to suit him, and when he went to India and Sri Lanka, Saqlain was undoubtedly a top-notch bowler. But when Pakistan produced flatties\seamers, and when he toured to the likes of New Zealand, England, South Africa, Australia, he offered no penetration against good batsmen.
Don't recall any such instance. Saqlain never played a full season for Surrey and missed large chunks of 1999, 2000 and 2001 due to Pakistan commitments. Kaneria and Saqlain played alongside one-another for several years and Saqlain was then invalided out of the side, and after taking about 2 years to recover from that injury he has never been remotely the same bowler again, and has then decided to prioritise county cricket (and the ICL) to cricket in Pakistan.I think what led to Saqlain's downfall was burnout caused from playing too much county cricket in England. There was a time around 2000-01, when he picked county cricket over national duties. I think that upset PCB, team management and he was not given a fair chance to come back as they quickly looked to Kaneria to fill the spot.
Can't honestly say I blame him either. For all county cricket's inadequacies, it's borderline royalty compared to domestic cricket in Pakistan.
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