All the tricks up his sleeve

Saqlain Mushtaq has spent most of his young career out of fashion, sidelined by the modern passion for colourful, dramatic wrist spinners...

Saqlain Mushtaq has spent most of his young career out of fashion, sidelined by the modern passion for colourful, dramatic wrist spinners .

Never mind that Saqlain is widely regarded as the best one-day bowler in the world. For years, it has been all Shane Warne and Mushtaq Ahmed. More recently, Sri Lanka’s exotic, controversial Muttiah Muralitharan – technically a finger spinner but who also rotates his bowling wrist – has won the plaudits.

Saqlain looks grey by comparison yet his achievements, particularly in the limited-over game, do not. His 187 one-day wickets in 98 matches have cost him 19.42 runs apiece, a better strike rate and at less cost than any of his illustrious rivals.

Warne’s one-day wickets have cost him just under 25, Muralitharan’s just under 28, and Mushtaq’s over 33.

Perhaps Saqlain has an image problem. Warne, after all, has his streaked blond hair and earring, Mushtaq his bubbly nature and histrionic appealing, Muralitharan his freakish action. Saqlain is more man-in-the-street.Off the pitch, he wears glasses and is nicknamed "Professor of spin" by his teammates.

Or perhaps the 22-year-old off-spinner from Lahore, who bowled pace when he first took up the game, should time his dramatic entrances better.

In the Test series against India at the start of the year, he took five wickets in all four innings during two Tests against India but still managed to get overshadowed by India’s Anil Kumble and his historic 10 wickets in an innings.

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Cricket fans may not yet have caught up with Saqlain, but Pakistan’s selectors have, installing him in the one-day starting eleven ahead of Mushtaq.

His opponents are also well aware of his abilities. Last year in England he helped Surrey to second place in the county championship, with 63 victims at a meagre cost of 17.76 each.

Saqlain is highly accurate while turning the ball a long way for a finger spinner. His most dangerous ball, however, is a disguised "slider" that drifts the other way. Batsmen playing for a ball turning into them findtheir off stump knocked back.

"Saqlain is world class bowler and he will be our trump card in the World Cup," his captain Wasim Akram says. "He is simply superb in the final overs."

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Saqlain himself, who played a single game in the 1996 tournament, is also confident that his knowledge of the local conditions will help. "With my county cricket experience, I am confident I will produce my best figures in the World Cup," he says.