Why did Saqlain Mushtaq underachieve in Tests?

[Hitman]

First of all, I have seen the entire career of Saqlain Mushtaq. And I can say affirmatively that he was one of the finest spin bowlers of his time, no less talented than Warne and Murali. The guy averages bloody 20.95 in India, a country where Warne and Murali have embarrassing records.

Just like a lot of posters here (I'm sure), I had extremely high expectations from Saqlain and we all believed that he had a genuine chance to establish himself in the same league as Warne and Murali. I loved watching Saqlain bowl and had extremely high expectations from him, just like I now have extremely high expectations from Virat Kohli.

A lot of fans blame the PCB for not handling him well. Well, I don't know what the reason was, but why did Saqlain not live up to his expectations? With his talent he should have achieved far more in Test cricket.

 

[Slog]

Poor medical advice destroyed his knees

The effectiveness of the doosra reduced as the better batsmen started to figure it out somehow. Saqqi introduced the doosra and had the first moved advantage in a way taking bucket loads of wickets when the batsmen had no clue about what the heck was going on.

 

[Hitman]

Saqlain was not just talented, he was ultra talented.

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

Because he was only 27 when he played last test, spinners usually develop late , see Yasir and ashwin

 

[Saj]

Fitness issues - his knees specifically.

Also the lure of the pound - overdid County cricket.

 

[Hitman]

Fitness issues - his knees specifically.

Also the lure of the pound - overdid County cricket.

With his talent, I can bet my bottom dollar that he could have achieved way, way more.

 

[Justcrazy]

With his talent, I can bet my bottom dollar that he could have achieved way, way more.

He could have played another 8 years , if he was fit . He would have reached 500 wickets in OD and 400 in Tests.

 

[Junaids]

You have all completely missed the point.

When Wasim Akram retired, he took with him the rough that Saqlain used to Bowl into.

Unlike now, there were no other left-armers. And so when the rough disappeared, Saqlain stopped taking Test wickets.

 

[Chrish]

Same reason as Lasith Malinga..

 

[honeybadger]

The effectiveness of the doosra reduced as the better batsmen started to figure it out somehow. Saqqi introduced the doosra and had the first moved advantage in a way taking bucket loads of wickets when the batsmen had no clue about what the heck was going on.

VVS in an interview said that Saqlain bowled Doosra often as his stock delivery in tests. It didn't take him long to figure out the Doosra because the grip and release was noticeably different. He had trouble figuring Murali though, because he had same release for both the off spin and doosra.

 

[sl-fan-of-pak]

and Wasim and Waqar didn't let him soften the ball, because they were wanted it to reverse.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Not the knees, not the doosra, it was the bloody footmarks. )

 

[Vivek_86]

He became obsessed with doosra. Batsmen started picking them and he then had no plan B

 

[Thivagar]

It is hard to be good for a very long time. Didn't he have a death in his family that put him through a depression ? He was the bowler after Murali I loved watching him bowl.

 

[Saj]

He became obsessed with doosra. Batsmen started picking them and he then had no plan B

Became more obsessed with money than anything else.

 

[badsha001]

Saj bhai is correct, was listening to Dr. Nauman on PTV sports a month ago even he mentioned that Saqlain is professional coach(not going to work for free unless he get paid).

 

[Saj]

Saj bhai is correct, was listening to Dr. Nauman on PTV sports a month ago even he mentioned that Saqlain is professional coach(not going to work for free unless he get paid).

Won't do anything for free

 

[Junaids]

Won't do anything for free

On the topic of which, people should look up how, at the time of the dawn of the Internet, he caused the 1994-95 Johannesburg Test to start late......

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

Fitness issues - his knees specifically.

Also the lure of the pound - overdid County cricket.

Look what happened with Junaid Khan. All of us felt he is finished. 99 % of us ruled him out because we thought his knees are finished but now he is coming back inshaAllah.


Saqlain had knee issue and he shouldn't have played Multan test. Virender Sehwag hammered him and he conceded 200 ofd runs and remained wivketless. Curtains were drawn over his Test Career prematurely.

This was the time when PCB should have supported him and he could have made successful comeback after an year but instead he was kicked out.

Saqlain was young. He played county cricket and he succeeded. With finished knees he could not have succeeded in Fc Cricket in England as it's quite competitive. Than he played in ICL and there too his magic worked and he clicked.


Yes he looked out of water in Multan Test but it was too early and premature to End his career.

 

[PakLFC]

Same can be said of Zaheer Abbas. Can't believe a batsman of his class only has 12 test centuries to his name.

 

[Thivagar]

Became more obsessed with money than anything else.

What makes you think that ? We need stories. What is wrong with a professional player wanting incentives for his time and energy ?

 

[jeetu]

Poor fitness and batsman started playing him as leg spinner.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Poor fitness and over reliance on doosra were the major reasons. However, one more thing to note is the quality of the pitches he had to bowl on post 1999. He bowled on some of the most dead tracks the world has ever seen.

 

[TQ89]

Same can be said of Zaheer Abbas. Can't believe a batsman of his class only has 12 test centuries to his name.

No offence. But of all the Pak greats we talk about, I find Zaheer to be the most over-rated one.

His saving grace & the reason he is revered although our people wont accept it, that he was a great India bully & would score like a machine against them. Than 1982-1983 season of his a testament to this.

Apart from that the "Asian Bradman" tag was just unjustified hype according to me.

 

[Zaz]

No offence. But of all the Pak greats we talk about, I find Zaheer to be the most over-rated one.

His saving grace & the reason he is revered although our people wont accept it, that he was a great India bully & would score like a machine against them. Than 1982-1983 season of his a testament to this.

Apart from that the "Asian Bradman" tag was just unjustified hype according to me.

I may be wrong but as far as i know he got the tag as the asian bradman for his english domestic exploits where he became the first asian to hit 100 hundreds

From all stories he was a beast at that level and would churn out hundreds by the bucketload hence the tag

 

[TQ89]

No doubt he was a beast in county & even topped the averages in few seasons there.

The tag was coined prematurely when he made his first hundred (274) in just his second test.

 

[Bilal7]

Saj bhai is correct, was listening to Dr. Nauman on PTV sports a month ago even he mentioned that Saqlain is professional coach(not going to work for free unless he get paid).

)

Who here would want to work for free? Unless the person in question has a boatload of money saved up, I don't see anyone raising their hand.

Saqlain and Ajmal were superb ODI bowlers - ATGs in this format - but they were a notch or two lower in tests because variations, their main strength, are not as effective in test matches. L&L, big turn and pressure are a whole lot important.

Saqlain also suffered a horrible knee injury just when he was reaching the age where spinners get to their peaks. That was probably the biggest issue that held him back from possibly becoming, the third ATG spinner of the modern era, along with Warne and Murali.

 

[Saj]

What makes you think that ? We need stories. What is wrong with a professional player wanting incentives for his time and energy ?

The reality is somewhat different.

Many people have said that they helped him out when he most needed it and in return he blanked them when they needed his help.

Short memory it seems.

 

[IcedEarth]

Poor medical advice destroyed his knees

The effectiveness of the doosra reduced as the better batsmen started to figure it out somehow. Saqqi introduced the doosra and had the first moved advantage in a way taking bucket loads of wickets when the batsmen had no clue about what the heck was going on.

Yes, Dharmasena should get the credit for it. He has demonstrated it (despite with a bit of kink in his action) and gave tips on how to pick it. Saqlain lost his potency gradually over SL, as Aravinda and Jayasuriya started mastering the doosra.

 

[Buffet]

Nah, he didn't underachieve. He was easier to play during later years due to batsmen being aware of what was happening.

 

[IcedEarth]

You have all completely missed the point.

When Wasim Akram retired, he took with him the rough that Saqlain used to Bowl into.

Unlike now, there were no other left-armers. And so when the rough disappeared, Saqlain stopped taking Test wickets.

Nah, Murali and Saqi never relied on rough as Warne. If Australia had Sri Lankan faste bowlers sized pacemen, Warne would have got 20% less scalps, as the rough created by shorter bowlers are much fuller on the crease.