It's Important For A Spinner To Put His Thinking Cap On

In his long and illustrious career, former Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mushtaq has seen many close games against arch-rival India.

- Shayan Acharya

He still remembers how the two teams would leave no stone unturned to outclass each other every time they met. But things seem to have changed over the last few years. “Pakistan has been largely inconsistent,” he says while speaking to Sportstar at a plush Southampton hotel.

Saqlain, the spin consultant of the England team, also believes that India’s Kuldeep Yadav has the potential to emerge as one of the top spinners in the world.

India-Pakistan matches were once considered the clash of the evens with both sides having star players. Your comments...

India is playing very good cricket. It is one of the best sides in the world at the moment and has a chance to win the World Cup. It is much stronger than Pakistan. In our times, we didn’t have much of a difference as we had superstars on both sides. Nowwe see, in the world rankings, the Indians top the batting line-up. In the bowling department, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah are in the top-five in the world. It has a top spin pair (in Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal) and the side is much better than us in the fielding department as well. That clearly indicates that India is better than us. Whatever rivalry andhypewehadevery time India and Pakistan met is not there that much now because it has mostly become a one-sided affair for India. Even though we won the Champions Trophy in 2017, I feel India was better than us. We were lucky and we all know that Pakistan is an unpredictable team. On the day Pakistan plays with full passion and with a street smart approach, it can beat any team. But I still feel that in the Champions Trophy, India was better than Pakistan.

Though Pakistan has a lot of talented players, something is not quite working for them. What do you think?