"Mushtaq worked on my action and I can say he's the reason why I was so successful" : Yasir Shah

[Khyam]

"Mushtaq worked on my action and I can say he's the reason why I was so successful" : Yasir Shah

http://www.dawn.com/news/1199018/mushtaq-ahmed-the-secret-behind-yasirs-recent-success

Pakistan's new bowling sensation Yasir Shah has paid tribute to Mushtaq Ahmed, crediting the former spin maestro for his recent success in international cricket.

Yasir picked up 24 wickets in three Tests against Sri Lanka and in the process became the fastest Pakistan bowler to 50 scalps, beating Waqar Younis, Shabbir Ahmed and Mohammad Asif. He now has 61 wickets to his name from only 10 games.

But behind Yasir's meteoric-rise were a lot of tough times and at one point in 2011, when he made his ODI and Twenty20 debut, the legspinner had lost faith in his abilities.

"I made my debut in 2011 and played just one ODI and two Twenty20s. I simply did not think my bowling was up to international standard," the 29-year-old said in an interview in the International Cricket Council show Cricket 360.

That's where Pakistan's former leggie Mushtaq Ahmed, who played 52 Tests and 144 ODIs for the country, came in. He is currently the team's spin bowling coach.

"Mushtaq worked on my action and I can say he's the reason why I was so successful [in Sri Lanka]," Yasir said.

"We simply worked on line and length, and the exercise meant I was repeating my action over and over and my rhythm was back."

Yasir admitted he was nervous when he made his Test debut against Australia in October 2014. The prospects of facing off against the likes of David Warner and Michael Clarke had provided for some anxious moments. But he found great support in Mushtaq in that instance as well.

"Mushtaq and Wahab Riaz came up to me during our training session before the first Test and motivated me. They told me that that the Australians would try to unsettle me and attack my bowling and in the process give me their wickets."

Yasir started hesitantly but ended up picking up 12 wickets as Pakistan whitewashed Australia 2-0.

The momentum gained from bringing down the mighty Aussies ultimately helped him put in brilliant performances against Sri Lanka where Pakistan won its first Test series after a gap of nine years.

"At the start of the tour, Misbah told me that it had been nine years since we won a series in Sri Lanka. But I was confident that we had the talent to go all the way this time."

"The practice games helped me. I did not pick up wickets initially so I decided to concentrate on blocking the runs and creating pressure. The wickets eventually came."

And they came in thick and fast. Yasir picked up his 24 wickets at average of 19.33 from the three Tests against Sri Lanka.

But Pakistan new star is not reading too much into his impressive stats and has vowed to stay grounded.

“It hasn't been an easy ride. And I don't look at stats too much ... I'm the fastest to 50 and stuff like that.

“I plan for every single game and what areas I will be concentrating on when I bowl. I will keep doing that.”

 

[Haroon786]

Good piece. Nice to see credit being given to Mushy, but also pleasing to see the level headed ness of Yasir will keep him in good stead for the future when times are less rosier than currently.

 

[WC-Passion]

Nice to know that Yasir didn't give up.

Also Mushy helping our spin bowlers develop well is a very good sign.

 

[Mamoon]

The likes of Mushtaq and Saqlain should be kept around the team (in some capacity) for a long time if possible. Both have worked in professional environments and bring new and fresh experience to the Pakistani camp. However, Saqlain needs to be held accountable for his work with Ajmal.

We need the trio of Waqar, Mushtaq and Flower should be in charge till the next World Cup.

 

[angrypathan]

Good to see Mushy doing his job

 

[AlphaFighter]

I would like abdul qadir and Shane Warne to give him tips as well

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

He has done great in Test cricket . Let's hope he keeps doing that in test cricket .

There was an instance where warne , mushtaq , waqar and yasir were seen having a discussion wrt Yasir's bowling action and follow through . I think Shane warne's tips and there implementation by both mushtaq and yasir has helped yasir a lot . Credit goes to Mushtaq and his professional approach and to Yasir for the hardwork he has put in .

Yasir need's to work on his Odi bowling . If he fails to improve than like Danish kaneria he won't be considered for Odi cricket.
Usama Mir , mohammad Asghar Kamran Ghulam and too a lesser extent Zafar Gohar are the standby options . And in my view all these 4 bowlers would surely be among the 52 players and 32 players of the pool Haroon Rashid chief selector has prepared .

Yasir has slowed his pace in Odi cricket , is giving flight which is good change . But his legspinners aren't spinning much and wrong one isn't effective aswell . Since like afridi he is not an allrounder so he needs to work on his legspinners and googly . May be in test cricket he gets a roughed up wicket from day 3 to day 5 so he gets appreciable leg break but in Odi cricket on flats rolled wickets his legspinners haven't got the nip and bite to turn sharply . Stand by options of Asghar and Usama both turn sharp

 

[MenInG]

I dont see why every player has to be good in ALL formats

We do this to our players and when they fail in one, the confidence issue emerges in other formats which is wrong.

 

[Pete Rose]

The likes of Mushtaq and Saqlain should be kept around the team (in some capacity) for a long time if possible. Both have worked in professional environments and bring new and fresh experience to the Pakistani camp. However, Saqlain needs to be held accountable for his work with Ajmal.

We need the trio of Waqar, Mushtaq and Flower should be in charge till the next World Cup.

not sure about saqlain. He is perpetuating hope for players with dodgy actions. That's my of much value.

 

[umer187]

Good that he acknowledged openly

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

The likes of Mushtaq and Saqlain should be kept around the team (in some capacity) for a long time if possible. Both have worked in professional environments and bring new and fresh experience to the Pakistani camp. However, Saqlain needs to be held accountable for his work with Ajmal.

We need the trio of Waqar, Mushtaq and Flower should be in charge till the next World Cup.

Why should Saqlain be held accountable for work with Ajmal and in what capacity?

He did his job, both Hafeez and Ajmal passed the test once. If Hafeez reverted back to his old action because of muscle memory, how could Saqlain be accountable for that.

Also, every single person in the cricketing world knew that Ajmal will not be the same bowler after change of action.

I'm surprised at Narine's action change and there are still many spinners openly playing cricket with extremely dodgy actions.

 

[Bilal7]

Remember the threads asking what Mushtaq's role was with the team?

 

[ExplicitAI]

One of our brightest stars currently in our team

 

[Barragan]

Great hear.

Mushy needs to get a hold of Usama Mir and start working with him asap.

That guy has serious potential and is probably even more talented than Yasir.

 

[Mamoon]

Why should Saqlain be held accountable for work with Ajmal and in what capacity?

He did his job, both Hafeez and Ajmal passed the test once. If Hafeez reverted back to his old action because of muscle memory, how could Saqlain be accountable for that.

Also, every single person in the cricketing world knew that Ajmal will not be the same bowler after change of action.

I'm surprised at Narine's action change and there are still many spinners openly playing cricket with extremely dodgy actions.

I don't think Saqlain was paid millions to ensure that Ajmal rolls his arm within the limits. He did not perform any surgical procedure.

He was tasked with ensuring that Ajmal is able to bowl effectively within limits, and he has failed to do so and it is surprising that he hasn't been asked about it since.

Not sure how much work he has done with Hafeez.

 

[Uzair Gooner]

Remember when Abdul Qadir said that What is Mustaq doing, yasir asked me about Googly

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

I don't think Saqlain was paid millions to ensure that Ajmal rolls his arm within the limits. He did not perform any surgical procedure.

He was tasked with ensuring that Ajmal is able to bowl effectively within limits, and he has failed to do so and it is surprising that he hasn't been asked about it since.

Not sure how much work he has done with Hafeez.

He was paid "millions" to help Ajmal clear the test and come up with an action that works.

I wonder by your logic, all teachers should be held accountable for the acts of their students? All professors to be castigated each time their pupil is unable to save the life of their patients.

Saqlain did what he was supposed to do. He helped Ajmal clear his action and now it is up to Ajmal to become a good bowler again.

 

[Stallion__]

You can hold Saqlain responsible for it morally only.
Don't think he can be legally held accountable.

When Ajmal couldn't get his action fixed for WC in time, he said that its because he want to maintain his effectiveness, thats why its taking longer. Or else he would have got it clear by then.

Since he isn't even 50% effective as compared to what he once used to be, Saqlain has clearly been disappointing. And even still, his off-spinners is doubtful, let alone his dosra, which I don't think he has bowled even once since his comeback at international level.

 

[Mamoon]

He was paid "millions" to help Ajmal clear the test and come up with an action that works.

I wonder by your logic, all teachers should be held accountable for the acts of their students? All professors to be castigated each time their pupil is unable to save the life of their patients.

Saqlain did what he was supposed to do. He helped Ajmal clear his action and now it is up to Ajmal to become a good bowler again.

Not sure if I agree with this. Saqlain's job wasn't just to ensure Ajmal bowls within limits, but also to help Ajmal make a swift comeback to the national team whilst still being effective.

There was a reason why PCB offered him a multi-million contract. Do you think they'd have taken that route had they knew that Ajmal would be a shell of his former self and not be anywhere near the team almost 7-8 months after working with Saqlain?

Saqlain has quite clearly failed because as [MENTION=59284]stallion[/MENTION]_ mentioned, he is not even 50% of his former self, and of course he cannot be held accountable legally but you can definitely question him morally.

By holding him accountable, I mean that someone should ask Saqlain what he makes of Ajmal's bowling today and how long he think he'll take.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

Not sure if I agree with this. Saqlain's job wasn't just to ensure Ajmal bowls within limits, but also to help Ajmal make a swift comeback to the national team whilst still being effective.

There was a reason why PCB offered him a multi-million contract. Do you think they'd have taken that route had they knew that Ajmal would be a shell of his former self and not be anywhere near the team almost 7-8 months after working with Saqlain?

Saqlain has quite clearly failed because as [MENTION=59284]stallion[/MENTION]_ mentioned, he is not even 50% of his former self, and of course he cannot be held accountable legally but you can definitely question him morally.

By holding him accountable, I mean that someone should ask Saqlain what he makes of Ajmal's bowling today and how long he think he'll take.

Dude, Saqlain's job was to help Ajmal remodel his action not to get him back to his former glory days.

We both know that Ajmal was bowling with his action for the best part of 6 years and was reaping dividends because of that. Now, he is not able to bowl the doosra and unable to get the spin because it was partly due to the kink in the elbow.

With time, he may become a bit better but we both know he will never be as effective.

When he was banned, it was known even at that time that as a bowler, Ajmal is done. He is still fighting it out and hopefully he may get back some of his mojo. That I believe is a big enough achievement for both Saqlain and Ajmal. For that, he should not be held accountable but given praise for.

 

[Mamoon]

Dude, Saqlain's job was to help Ajmal remodel his action not to get him back to his former glory days.

I think his job was to help Ajmal remodel his action AND get him back to an acceptable level. It was always unreasonable to expect him to be as good as before, but clearly, he was well below par on his return and that is not what a lot of people and PCB expected.

I seriously doubt if they would have paid Saqlain one millions rupees per month had they knew that it'd take the 37 year old Ajmal more than a year and counting... and on moral grounds, Saqlain has to be blamed I think.

 

[Asif khan]

Why should Saqlain be held accountable for work with Ajmal and in what capacity?

He did his job, both Hafeez and Ajmal passed the test once. If Hafeez reverted back to his old action because of muscle memory, how could Saqlain be accountable for that.

Also, every single person in the cricketing world knew that Ajmal will not be the same bowler after change of action.

I'm surprised at Narine's action change and there are still many spinners openly playing cricket with extremely dodgy actions.

Well they're not Pakistanis so it's all good...

 

[khalil1986]

Well they're not Pakistanis so it's all good...

The whole world is against us.

Pakistanis and their victim mentality.

 

[Asif khan]

The whole world is against us.

Pakistanis and their victim mentality.

You will find this to be the case in every in every country. They all feel they are the victims.

However, if any nationality can with a smidgen of justification claim to be be victims in cricket then I feel it is Pakistan.

Which other country was harassed throughout the 90's for ball tampering? It's a great skill now every man and his dog can do it.

Even the chucking saga, there appears to be a strict, uncompromising approach to bowlers with suspect actions from Pakistan yet other cricketers there is a flexible or even a lenient approach.

 

[khalil1986]

You will find this to be the case in every in every country. They all feel they are the victims.

However, if any nationality can with a smidgen of justification claim to be be victims in cricket then I feel it is Pakistan.

Which other country was harassed throughout the 90's for ball tampering? It's a great skill now every man and his dog can do it.

Even the chucking saga, there appears to be a strict, uncompromising approach to bowlers with suspect actions from Pakistan yet other cricketers there is a flexible or even a lenient approach.

Although certain aspects I agree with however the mentality of being on wrong end is something we easily fall back on and do little to rectify it.

World generally isn't fair but by blaming others isn't going to solve anything so best thing to do is to try to fix the issue if there is one.

 

[ads101]

It's so nice to see that the younger generation of cricketers seem so polite and mature. I have no idea why the previous generation were so bad.

 

[ChachaCricket]

Remember the threads asking what Mushtaq's role was with the team?

+1

 

[AlphaFighter]

I think his job was to help Ajmal remodel his action AND get him back to an acceptable level. It was always unreasonable to expect him to be as good as before, but clearly, he was well below par on his return and that is not what a lot of people and PCB expected.

I seriously doubt if they would have paid Saqlain one millions rupees per month had they knew that it'd take the 37 year old Ajmal more than a year and counting... and on moral grounds, Saqlain has to be blamed I think.

Saqlain is an international qualified coach who runs his own academy in England coaching kids. He has experience of working with West Indies spinners and a few other international spinners who credit him with providing very good tips and guidance. When given the task to working with Ajmal, he took time out from his own academy and other commitments in England solely for the purpose of giving time to Ajmal, he has every right to be compensated as per his demands/needs. The PCB could have declined and moved to other options but they had no issues.

Anyone who completely remodels his bowling action needs time and plenty of match practice to fix his action. But ultimately i doubt whether both Ajmal and Hafeez can return to their best and be as effective as before. Once you have a natural flaw with your bowling arms then its a long shot.

PCB should just move on and look at other options.

 

[Mamoon]

Saqlain is an international qualified coach who runs his own academy in England coaching kids. He has experience of working with West Indies spinners and a few other international spinners who credit him with providing very good tips and guidance. When given the task to working with Ajmal, he took time out from his own academy and other commitments in England solely for the purpose of giving time to Ajmal, he has every right to be compensated as per his demands/needs. The PCB could have declined and moved to other options but they had no issues.

Anyone who completely remodels his bowling action needs time and plenty of match practice to fix his action. But ultimately i doubt whether both Ajmal and Hafeez can return to their best and be as effective as before. Once you have a natural flaw with your bowling arms then its a long shot.

PCB should just move on and look at other options.

I don't blame Saqlain for accepting PCB's offer. Anyone in his stead would have done so, but the PCB simply pushed the panick button and sanity didn't prevail.

What I find surprising is that there has been no follow up accountability. It's been 7-8 months and he's going at 11 runs per over in charity matches against semi-pro cricketers.

 

[AlphaFighter]

I don't blame Saqlain for accepting PCB's offer. Anyone in his stead would have done so, but the PCB simply pushed the panick button and sanity didn't prevail.

What I find surprising is that there has been no follow up accountability. It's been 7-8 months and he's going at 11 runs per over in charity matches against semi-pro cricketers.

Cmon now, saqi can't bowl for Ajmal now can he?

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk

 

[Mamoon]

Cmon now, saqi can't bowl for Ajmal now can he?

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk

Yes, but surely has to take some blame for the fact that Ajmal has been utterly useless with his new action? Why doesn't any ask him how long he thinks it'll take, what is he doing wrong etc. I find it weird that Saqlain has barely commented on his bowling in the last few months and neither has anyone asked him about it.

 

[Ottoman]

Yes, but surely has to take some blame for the fact that Ajmal has been utterly useless with his new action? Why doesn't any ask him how long he thinks it'll take, what is he doing wrong etc. I find it weird that Saqlain has barely commented on his bowling in the last few months and neither has anyone asked him about it.

PCB brought Ajmal back too early for my liking due to undue pressure of Media & fans. We have all seen his performance in English domestic season. He can't buy a wicket at the moment.

I think, Pakistan fans & PCB should move on & find an other off-spiner with legal action.

 

[Mamoon]

PCB brought Ajmal back too early for my liking due to undue pressure of Media & fans. We have all seen his performance in English domestic season. He can't buy a wicket at the moment.

I think, Pakistan fans & PCB should move on & find an other off-spiner with legal action.

There is a very good possibility he will be brought back for the England Test series. We will go with two spinners and Babar has been very poor.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

The whole world is against us.

Pakistanis and their victim mentality.

Not playing the victim card here at all. Players with dodgy actions in my opinion

West Indies - Suleimann Benn, Sunil Narine
Bangladesh - Arafat Sunny (His normal ball maybe okay but his quicker one is definitely not okay), Al-Amin (despite him being cleared)
India - Harbajan Singh, Praghyan Ojha and the quicker on of Axar is still a bit dodgy (could be within limits)
Pakistan - Imad Wasim (that quicker ball needs a look)

Do not think that there is any Australian, Kiwi, English, South African or Lankan bowler atm who has a visible kink. Even when Ajmal was playing, I always had doubts especially in the later part of his career.

Saw some CPL and there are more than one West Indian players with dodgy actions however not sure whether they will have any chance getting selected in the main team hence not mentioning them. Even the Canadian version of Narine, Dutta had a dodgy sort of action.

 

[Ottoman]

There is a very good possibility he will be brought back for the England Test series. We will go with two spinners and Babar has been very poor.

I don't think Babar was that poor, but you can't bring Ajmal back without any solid performances at his back.

Game is bigger than a player.

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

Yasir Shah doesn't just get extra bite, lift & spin from around the wicket due to rough patches but infact he completes his action far better from this angle and imparts more revolutions on the ball.


If he can bowl with a similar action from over the wicket than his leggies would get more turn and more bounce. Hence he will be more improved bowler.


As per footage Qadir used to bowl with an angular runup probably 65 degrees while Warne had it 75.


Yasir's runup is too straight. Probably 85 degrees. So he doesn't get the same pivot as he gets from an angular runup from around the wicket. So he needs to make a change to his runup from over the wicket by making it angular by 10 degrees. Hence he will be able to complete his action far better just like he does from around the wicket.

He will be a deadly leggie if he can bowl aswell from over the wicket angle aswell.


Another think lose 10-12 kg weight. Atleast get rid of the belly.

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

Said this last year as well. Ever since Mushi has gone Yasir hasn't been that lethal. Mushi was his mentor and guided him on how to bowl on every other surface. Yasir is an experienced guy and will always do well but no one can deny that Mushi has done wonders with him.