In a recent interview , former spinner Saqlain Mushtaq explained that when the board called him to correct Saeed Ajmal’s bowling action, there were over 30 other spinners present, who were accused of chucking by local coaches.
He said, “I had a one-month contract, and I was also requested to correct the actions of these young players. I used to work with Saeed Ajmal in morning and evening sessions, but I still took out time to guide these bowlers and spent a week with them. I told the board officials that more work should be done with these bowlers, but I was told to send them back, declaring their actions exceeded 15 degrees.”
Saqlain Mushtaq said, “I told the PCB officials that these poor kids will become unemployed, their departments will drop them, their household systems will be disrupted, but I was told we don’t have time, and so all these players went back.”
He added, “I told the board officials that now other finger spinners in Pakistan will also become conventional bowlers and stop doing anything different. Now, left-arm or right-arm spinners have abandoned variations and are bowling straightforwardly. We haven’t found any bowler with magical abilities.”
The former spinner said, “A psychological block spread across the country, and no child thought of trying something new. There was no spin bowling coach in the country, and even after that, the PCB never bothered to set up camps to search for good spinners.”
He said, “None of the officials suggested setting up a spinner camp. I went to Australia twice, and both times they set up spinner camps. The first time, Shane Warne was with me, and the second time, MacGill was called as well. All the coaches attended those camps. I kept suggesting this in Pakistan, but nothing happened.”
