Saqlain Mushtaq is a name in Pakistan cricket that is one of the biggest legends in the history of Pakistan cricket and of the best leg spinners the world has ever seen as it was said that what he could do with that ball was magic and he was a magician. He picked a lot of wickets for Pakistan and was the leading ODI wicket taker for a couple of years in international cricket. We will talk about his records below but I feel unlucky that I was unable to witness the greatness of Saqlain Mushtaq live. He played international cricket from 1995-2004.
Saqlain Mushtaq played 49 Test Matches for Pakistan and he took 208 wickets meaning he averaged more than 4 wickets per Match. He took these wickets at an average of 29.84 and he took 13 5 Wicket hauls in an Innings and 3 times he has taken 10 wickets in a test match. He played 169 ODIs for Pakistan and took 288 Wickets for Pakistan at an astonishing average of 21.79 and he took 6 Five wicket hauls in ODI cricket. So, with all that being said let’s look at the Top 5 Best bowling Performances of this legend.
5/94 and 5/93 vs India (1999)
This was the famous Chennai test match of 1999 which Pakistan won by 12 runs and the best performer of that match for Pakistan was Saqlain Mushtaq who took 10 Wickets in that match. In the first batting innings for India he toon 5/94 runs in 35 overs and he never allowed the Indian batters to settle on the crease and India could only make 254 in their first innings. Then in the fourth Innings of this test match it was again Saqlain who took another 5 wicket haul and thus time he bowled 32.2 overs and was the hero in ensuring a famous away win for Pakistan and it was applauded by the fans in Chennai as well.
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8/164 vs England (2000)
If there was ever a one man show in an innings it was this by Saqlain Mushtaq against England in 2000 where all the other bowlers were going for runs in the first innings it was him who kept bowling and bowling and he bowled a astounding 74 overs in that innings and took 8 Wickets in the innings and all the 8 Wickets in that innings were taken by him. It was a sensational bowling performance.
7/66 vs Zimbabwe (2002)
Another one of the best performances in the career of Saqlain Mushtaq came against Zimbabwe in 2002 where he absolutely destroyed the Zimbabwe batting line-up in the first innings of that test match and in almost 26 overs that he bowed in that innings he just kept picking up Wickets and as a result the Zimbabwe team wax all out for a small score of 178 in the first innings and Pakistan won the test match by 10 wickets. It was one of the best leg spin bowling performances of that time.
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5/20 vs England (2000)
The best bowling performance in the ODI career of the great Saqlain Mushtaq was against England in 2000 and it looked like he loved bowling against England as in this match he was brutal with his leg spin and the great England batting line-up had no answers to this barrage from him. He bowled just the 8 overs in that match and at an economy rate of 2.5 he decimated the English team on his own and Pakistan won that match by 6 wickets.
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5/29 vs Australia (1996)
The fifth and last incredible performance that as will talk about is one of the best match winning performances by a leg spinner of all time as in this match Pakistan had only made 223 in the 50 overs and it looked like a cakewalk for Australia but Saqlain had other plans as he kept bowling and taking the wickets of the Australian team and in just 8.5 overs and giving away 29 runs he took 5 wickets and Pakistan won that match by 12 runs and Saqlain Mushtaq was a hero in Pakistan and his career never looked back after this match.
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