da fazobetai： “My job is to perform well, and despite that if they don’t pick you forinternational cricket I don’t know what you can do?” So says MushtaqAhmed, once an automatic selection for Pakistan, now the leading bowlerin this year’s English County
da bet7k： by Kamran Abbasi27-Aug-2003″My job is to perform well, and despite that if they don’t pick you forinternational cricket I don’t know what you can do?” So says MushtaqAhmed, once an automatic selection for Pakistan, now the leading bowlerin this year’s English County Championship and heading fast for 100wickets.”Spin bowlers get better with age,” he continues, “and the best age isin your thirties.” That, of course, is Mushtaq’s age now, and he canhave had few better seasons than with Sussex, now surprise leaders inthe Championship.Whether or not Mushtaq is bowling the best of his career is difficult tojudge unless he gets back into the Pakistan team, and the noises fromthe selectors suggest that his chances are slim. They are backing youth,which means Danish Kaneria, the man who replaced Mushtaq in the middleof England’s last tour of Pakistan.But does Mushtaq have a case? There was a time, in the mid-1990s, whenhe vied with Shane Warne for the title of world’s best leggie, but Warnecontinued to rise while Mushtaq plummeted. His first problem came withthe arrival of Saqlain Mushtaq, a spinner who could take wickets andcheck the run rate. Saqlain is an ideal one-day bowler, and withPakistan’s emphasis on the shorter game, Mushtaq found himself squeezedout. Saqlain’s emergence coincided nicely with Pakistan’s match-fixingscandals, during which Mushtaq was accused and out of favour. Hisappearances became confined to when Pakistan played two spinners,although he continued to spin the ball prodigiously, with greatvariation. Mushtaq remained a threat, but the wickets dried up. Perhapshe was trying too hard.For the last two seasons he has been the leading wicket-taker inPakistan’s domestic cricket – but you wouldn’t know it. News ofPakistan’s domestic cricket travels little beyond the country’s ownborders … and not that much within them. But this season’s successwith Sussex has brought Mushtaq’s predicament to prominence.He is not alone. Saqlain too has lost his place; both of them sacrificedat the altar of youth. Nonetheless, while Pakistan’s officials do talkof Saqlain’s return, Mushtaq’s plight usually gets short shrift. Thecurrent axis of power – Rashid Latif (captain), Javed Miandad (coach)and Aamir Sohail (chairman of selectors) – wants a clean break from thepast, and will probably persevere with youngsters like Kaneria.Surprisingly Mushtaq had few favours from his friend Waqar Younis,during whose captaincy he played only once for Pakistan. He denies anybitterness towards Waqar, but clearly he is not impressed by histreatment. “When a man tries to keep his job he has to make a lot ofcompromises,” says Mushtaq. “I took a lot of wickets at the start of the2001 tour but I was dropped. When people get into the business ofsurvival, especially the leader, the team cannot get behind him. Youonly have to see what happened in the World Cup. Pakistan lost badly butthe team was not so bad.”There is too much liking and disliking in the selection for thePakistan team. Danish Kaneria has been tried inconsistently. They havedropped Saqlain too. They should give an explanation when people withgood records lose their place.”Mushtaq is a family man and, for the last two years, a devout Muslim whoprays five times a day. He has no expectations of Waqar Younis or RashidLatif or the Pakistan selectors. He has left his fate in the hands ofGod, and is determined to perform his best for Sussex and take them totheir first Championship title.”Allah has given me a lot of insight and blessing. We shouldn’t runafter material things. There are many millionaires who are not happywith life. And Allah never closes the door on people. I played well in acouple of matches for Surrey last season, and Sussex signed me. I have aone-year contract but I hope that will be increased and I hope to takeas many wickets as possible.”And what remains unsaid is that he wants to win his Test place back.Kamran Abbasi, born in Lahore but raised in Rotherham, is deputy editor of the British Medical Journal
