Just when England thought they were safe from the influence of Shane Warne, the former Australia leg spinner turned commentator and outspoken pundit, returned to haunt them here yesterday.
Yasir Shah, the Pakistan wrist-spin bowler, declared himself 99 per cent fit after the back spasm that forced him to miss the first Test in Abu Dhabi. Moeen Ali, the England opening batsman, described Yasir as “their gun bowler”, but Yasir appeared to hold the England batting in lower regard.
Speaking through a translator, he said: “I think they are weak against the leg spinners, so I will strongly try to exploit that. I have watched the Ashes when [Shane] Warne was playing and noticed they are weak there. I have watched those videos and tried in the nets to bowl like that, and I am quite hopeful that I will bowl well.”
Rather than aspiring to follow Abdul Qadir and Mushtaq Ahmed, Yasir, 29, took up wrist spin after seeing Warne on television. He has spoken to Warne, has Mushtaq as the Pakistan spin coach and works with Qadir at his academy in Lahore. Nobody can say he has been badly tutored.
Ali thinks that England “have some really good players of spin” and named Joe Root as the best in the world against slow bowling. “We are not fazed,” he said. “They have a few left-arm bowlers in their team, which I think will be good for me and [Adil] Rashid with the rough it creates. We are going to have to play [Yasir] like we have been playing anyone, just get on with it.”
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There is no doubt that England, after only four days of practice before the start of the series, have drawn considerable strength from the way they fought back after conceding 523 in the first innings in Abu Dhabi, then came within 25 runs of completing a remarkable success on the final afternoon.
“It has probably given Pakistan a bit of a nudge that we are here to be serious,” Ali said. “We probably caught them off guard in that last session. They will come back strongly. I think they will be more aware, know we are here for a challenge and that we have a good chance of winning the series.”
● India and South Africa will play a one-day international in Chennai tomorrow under the control of two home umpires after the ICC named a replacement for Aleem Dar. Pakistan-born Dar was withdrawn by the ICC from the series after a “group of extremists” disrupted proceedings at the Board of Control for Cricket in India offices in Mumbai. The ICC has confirmed Sundaram Ravi as a replacement.