BLINK AND MISS
West Indies cricketer Marlon Samuels bowled out by Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi during the ICC Twenty-20 match in Dhaka on Tuesday. WI crushed Pak by 84 runs to enter the semis.
MIRPUR: The man who gave the world the doosra is facing a wrong one himself.
Roped into the West Indies’ coaching pool as the spin bowling consultant last year, Saqlain Mushtaq now sees his loyalties tested as the Caribbean brigade gears up to face Pakistan in a do or die battle for a semifinal spot.
He kept pointing to the WICB logo and harped on how his religion would by default set his loyalties to the team he is employed by but during the interaction he referred to Umar Gul as ‘our’ before correcting himself, saying ‘our (Krishmar) Santokie’ while answering a question on new ball bowlers.
The 37-year-old off-break bowler joined the WICB in September and worked with the age-group and women’s teams till February when he was given charge of the senior team. What he has brought to the table will come to the fore when West Indies face the likes of Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi and Zulfiqar Babar.
The for mer Sur rey and Sussex player, however, was guarded when asked about the key to break the Ajmal code. “Saeed Ajmal has been playing for Pakistan for quite a few years. And with the technology available now, there was already information, you will know everything. There is nothing hidden now.”
West Indies skipper Darren Sammy was more upfront. “Saqlain has been a good addition to us. Yes, they’ve (Pakistan) got all their spinners, but we’ve got No 1 and 2 in our dressing room as well. They’ve got to plan to bowl to our batsmen and face our bowlers as well. It’s going to be very competitive. The last two days we’ve been practising the way we want to go out and play. We know we can get the boundaries, so we just have to do that. They’ve got some quality spinners, which we are aware of, but they are not unplayable.”
Pakistan skipper Mohammad Hafeez was confident trying to figure out Ajmal was not something that can happen in a short time. “The thing is there is no such medicine that you can give and the player will start doing well. It requires a lot of skill,” he said.