One often ignored fact about Saqlain Mushtaq’s Test career is this: as Wasim Akram aged and played fewer and fewer Tests, Saqlain became ineffective.
Off-spinners feed on the footmarks created by left-arm quicks bowling over the wicket. It’s why they tend to achieve little in the first innings, but in the second, third and fourth they become an increased threat as the match progresses.
So when Wasim Akram wasn’t around, Saqlain had much less assistance from the surface.
If you fast forward to Australia’s October 2018 tour of the UAE, there are going to be two big 85 kg left-arm quicks creating footmarks - Mitchell Starc and Wahab Riaz.
Two heavyweight lefties will create big footmarks to bring offspin into the game.
But whereas Australia has Nathan Lyon to exploit such conditions, Pakistan only has Mohammad Hafeez (who tends to be ineffective to right-handers) and Bilal Asif.
The toss and those footmarks could play a huge role in this series.
Off-spinners feed on the footmarks created by left-arm quicks bowling over the wicket. It’s why they tend to achieve little in the first innings, but in the second, third and fourth they become an increased threat as the match progresses.
So when Wasim Akram wasn’t around, Saqlain had much less assistance from the surface.
If you fast forward to Australia’s October 2018 tour of the UAE, there are going to be two big 85 kg left-arm quicks creating footmarks - Mitchell Starc and Wahab Riaz.
Two heavyweight lefties will create big footmarks to bring offspin into the game.
But whereas Australia has Nathan Lyon to exploit such conditions, Pakistan only has Mohammad Hafeez (who tends to be ineffective to right-handers) and Bilal Asif.
The toss and those footmarks could play a huge role in this series.
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