world's Best off Spinner Saqlain Mushtaq

[Super Falcon]

without a shadow of doubt saqlain was best of the all off spinner that world has ever seen murali is great but saqlains doosra no one picked ever

sachin,ganguly,lara,gilchrist

all of them struggled against saqi

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[Super Falcon]

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[Super Falcon]

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[Nemesis]

Yeah Saqlain in his prime was good, i remember the Chennai test when he single-handedly beat India. However Murali is better. His record speaks for itself and he has had a far longer career.

 

[Srinivas]

no doubt saqlain is good offie, he bowls without entering the crease for doosra that is an indication
i am sure lot of batsman knows that.

but one cannot pick easily doosra of murali or bhajji, as there is little variation in their action

 

[Hyde]

Saqlain was best so was Murali and Shane Warne....... you cannot compare all 3 players cause all of them were legends and had their own class

@ Shukoi

Come on man you cannot compare Bhajji with Saqlain or Murali...... Harbhajan is a good bowler but Saqlain, Murali and Warne was gifted ones and the stats speaks itself

Remember the quickest 50 wickets taker was Saqlain, he got quickest 100 wickets, he got quickest 150 quickest in the history of cricket, he got 200 quickest wicket in the history of cricket (i forgot if it was test or odi but can confirm if you have any doubt...... my cricinfo isn't working for now otherwise would have posted some stats about him)

This is what Saqlain is all about...... Murali and Warne also had a great class but Harbhajan was not gifted he is only a good bowler

 

[Wingman]

And that great spinner became the " Qurbani ka Bakra" just like these days Abdu Razzaq. He was out in Champion's League. That Little kiddo Fawad Alam Why is he in the team??? Saeed Ajmal is late comer in the team.

 

[Srinivas]

Saqlain was best so was Murali and Shane Warne....... you cannot compare all 3 players cause all of them were legends and had their own class

@ Shukoi

Come on man you cannot compare Bhajji with Saqlain or Murali...... Harbhajan is a good bowler but Saqlain, Murali and Warne was gifted ones and the stats speaks itself

Remember the quickest 50 wickets taker was Saqlain, he got quickest 100 wickets, he got quickest 150 quickest in the history of cricket, he got 200 quickest wicket in the history of cricket (i forgot if it was test or odi but can confirm if you have any doubt...... my cricinfo isn't working for now otherwise would have posted some stats about him)

This is what Saqlain is all about...... Murali and Warne also had a great class but Harbhajan was not gifted he is only a good bowler

you forgot to add one thing about him he has the lowest average in ODI's which indicates he is good in containing batsmen in ODI's.

friend i am not comparing any of those spinners all i am saying is bajji and murali can disguise their deliveries well.

 

[Super Falcon]

i wanna tell u one thing murali is legend about no doubt about it but saqi was greatest off all time in the list of off spinners and u compare bhaji man bhaji is good infact very good but not as good as saq and murali some times he get smecked sir i never seen saqi got smacked if saqi got smacked he will take wicket of that batsman and saqi speciallity was he bowls at depth and that time murali use to bowl middle overs that shows how confident was saqi on its abbility

 

[jarnee]

lets put it this way ...Saqlain was the inventor of "Doosra"...post him all the offies..started trying it...before Saqlain, off spin was a dying art...same like leg spin before warne... But players like Murali and Bhajji have mastered the art..only bec. they played more & have been part of the teams for long

 

[jarnee]

Same like inventor of reverse swing was Imran khan...but Wasim and waqar mastered it later...today all batters know how to play Doosra from an offie and reverse form a fast bowler

 

[Super Falcon]

bhaji masteres it lol he get hammered after every 1 game and saqi played alot too sir bhaji is nothing but ordianay spinner u forgot recently how much we hammered him in CT i think u dont remember u cant compare bhaji with class of saqi

 

[jaunty]

Well leaving the jingoistic views aside, let us have a fair comparison. I have been following cricket since 96 world cup, so can't comment on off-spinners before that. Also I don't consider it to be fair to compare players of different generations.

So if we talk about off-spinners I have seen, its pretty clear that Muruli is head and shoulders above the rests. He is one of the best of all time.
So actually its not Saqlain but Muruli, who's world's best spinners.

Now coming back to Saqlain Vs Bhajji... IMO from what I have seen Saqlain was('was' because I have not seen him for last few years) slightly better bowler than Bhajji. Now let's see what the record says---

TESTS
Saqlain--Match-49,wickets-208,Ave-29.83,SR-67.6,5wI-13, 10wM-3

Bhajji--Match-77,wickets-330,Ave-30.42,SR-65,5wI-23, 10wM-5

So they have pretty similar records from Ave and SR point of view, but I will still give the advantage to Bhajji marginally as its difficult to maintain a record for a long time and he has played some 28 tests more.

In ODIs even without going to records, Saqlain is a far superior bowler to Bhajji.

So overall from what I have seen and also going by the records I would say Saqlain was a slightly better bowler than what Bhajji is and Muruli clearly owns both of them. Period.

Now an important question to Pakistani friends---

Why Saqlain has not been playing in the national team for a long time.What's actually happened to him. He is still only 32+ and not playing since 28-29. If it is simply lack of form rather than any other matter, I would have to say its a serious disadvantage to the claim of being the best in the world. The best bowler doesn't sit out so long for lack of form. So what is the reason??

 

[Super Falcon]

if saqi palyed matches similar to murali i think he was ahead of him and why he dont play becoz pcb dont want him politics

 

[leonblack08]

I read somewhere that Saqlain would play for England if given the chance.I still don't get it why he isn't in the Pakistan team.Don't even remember the last time I saw him play in International cricket.