Watch: Pakistan’s 24-year-old mystery spinner wreaks havoc, rips England’s top order with historic five-for in 2nd Test
After the defeat to England in the first Test at Rawalpindi, Pakistan captain Babar Azam had pointed out that he did not get the pitch that was desired, one that would assist the spinners. It took just a little bit more time but Babar’s wish came true when a 24-year-old spinner, making his Test debut for Pakistan, scalped a five-wicket-haul. Abrar Ahmed, very much a mystery spinner made a dream start to his Pakistan career when he ripped through England’s top order and left them reeling at 167/5 inside first session of the opening day of the Multan Test, dismissing Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Harry Brook.To level the series, Pakistan needed a special effort, which came from the youngster, who struck in his first over cleaning up England opener Crawley with a googly. Pope and Duckett tried to ensure Abrar did not settle into his rhythm, and to an extent it looked as if their plan succeeded as they took him on and hit the youngster for three boundaries in five deliveries. They took the attack to him before Abrar trapped Duckett out LBW, the review unable to save him.From there, Abrar took off. Root was his second LBW wicket, while Pope’s reverse sweep took the glove and into the hands of backward point. Brook went for a big hit, but top edged for Mohammad Nawaz to take the catch and give Abrar his moment under the sun – a maiden five wicket haul on Test debut. With this, Abrar etched his name in history as the first Pakistan bowler to grab five wickets in the opening session in a debut Test. Overall, he is the 13th Pakistan bowler to claim a five-for in his maiden Test.
On paper, Abrar is a leg-spinner but he fits into the mystery spinner category because of his uncanny ability to bowl the carrom ball, the wrong one, the flipper, the straighter one, roll his fingers to bowl the off-spinner. In a way, Pakistan, who have a history of producing genuine fast bowlers, have a first mystery spinner in 24-year-old Abrar. In 22 First-Class games, Abrar has picked 85 wickets, out of which 32 came in the 2021-22 season and 24 in 2022-23 calendar, and in fact, at this very Multan stadium, Abrar has snared 20 FC wickets. In the 2020, Quaid-e-Azam Second XI Trophy, Abrar had a phenomenal tally of 57 wickets to show for his effort.Another feature of Abrar that stands out is his ability to bowl really long spells. He once bowled a whopping 206 overs in six matches in which he picked up 24 wickets. In 24 FC matches, Abrar bowled more than 428 overs. He had first made headlines back in 2017 while playing for Karachi Kings in the PSL, when he kept former England captain Eoin Morgan quiet during a strangling spell.
