Pakistan’s spinners Sajid Khan and Nauman Ali are different but they blew away England’s batting line-up to give Pakistan a long-awaited Test win.
According to French news agency AFP, the spin duo took all 20 wickets in a 152-run win on a favorable wicket for the spinners, and are now set for a showdown in the third Test starting Thursday in Rawalpindi.
The 38-year-old left-arm spinner Nauman Ali is the senior of the pair, and he and Sajid Khan have played eight Test matches together.
“We bowled with a lot of confidence and his energy is always high,” Nauman told AFP, referring to fellow off-spinner Sajid Khan.
“Our plan was to keep it simple,” he said. We knew England’s batsmen would be aggressive, so we didn’t bother and kept it simple.’
Nouman Ali further said that ‘both of us getting 20 wickets is an honor and it happens very rarely.’
Pakistan’s victory over England in the second Test was their first win at their home ground in three years and eight months. The Green Shirts had earlier beaten South Africa last time out in Rawalpindi.
Nouman Ali showed his best bowling performance by taking eight wickets for 44 runs and thus the England team was bowled out for 144 runs in pursuit of 297 runs. However, it was Sajid Khan who took seven wickets for 111 runs in the first innings where he not only changed the momentum in his team’s favor but also gave them a valuable lead of 75 runs.
Nauman Ali took 11 wickets for 147 runs in the match while Sajid Khan took nine wickets for 204 runs. They are the seventh pair to take 20 wickets in a Test after Australia’s Dennis Lillee and Bob Massey against England in 1972.
Sajid Khan, known for his mustache and unique way of celebrating after taking a wicket, told AFP, “I have a mustache like my father’s.”
Sajid Khan’s late father was in the Pakistani Army.
“(Former Australian batsman) David Warner once told me he was afraid of my moustache,” he said.
Regarding Pakistan’s spin duo, former Pakistani cricketer and left-arm spin bowler Iqbal Qasim believes that Nauman and Sajid support each other in the best way.
Iqbal Qasim, who took 171 wickets in 50 Test matches for Pakistan, said, “Spin gives us a winning formula which we were not using.”
“Nouman and Sajid have matured with experience and can continue the victories in the home series.”
37 years ago, Iqbal Qasim’s partnership with off-spinner Taseef Ahmed was very famous and the duo took 18 wickets against India in Bengaluru to give Pakistan their first ever series win against their arch-rivals.
Pakistan’s off-spinner Tauseef Ahmed, who took 93 Test wickets, said the pair bowled ‘extraordinarily’ in the win over England.
“The old setup didn’t believe in spinners and that’s why we weren’t taking advantage of the home series,” he said.