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Abrar Ahmed, the Pakistan mystery spinner India will be wary of
His talent scout, a member of Pakistan’s coaching staff, says modern batters struggle against such unorthodox spinners
Dubai: The story goes thus. When the then Pakistan National Cricket Academy coach Mushtaq Ahmed asked Abrar Ahmed about Abdul Qadir, the young man asked, “yeh kaun hai? (who is this)”.
The bespectacled Abrar, is a self-taught mystery spinner and a product of Pakistan’s tape-ball cricket who idolises Sunil Narine. Come Sunday, he will be their No.1 weapon against India amidst the show stealing pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi, Harris Rauf and Naseem Shah.
Abrar, 26, is the only specialist spinner Pakistan have picked in their squad, a matter of much debate. This approach will be severely tested in Dubai as he shoulders the burden of challenging India’s batting heavyweights during the middle overs.
Of Harry Potter looks with his large glasses and nicknamed so by teammates – affectionately by some, teasingly by others – Abrar ensured the spotlight firmly shifted to his bowling after a 11-wicket-haul on Test debut against England in late 2022. “It’s because of a lack of awareness and understanding of mystery spin that allowed him to make it at the highest level,” says Mohammad Masroor, his talent scout, now Pakistan’s fielding coach.
Masroor says Abrar was branded a white-ball specialist seeing his usefulness in U19 T20s where batters could neither score off him in the Powerplay nor survive. He comes from a sound financial background – his family has a transport business – but the Pathans from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had little knowledge of cricket.
“From the beginning he had magic in his fingers when he would bowl with the tape ball in the mohalla,” the coach told HT. “He would be taken as a star bowler in 4-6 overs cricket they had. He was taken to the NCA. We paid ₹10,000 to get him to play with the hard ball at district level. Impressed, as coach of Pakistan U19, I picked him and he kept growing.”
Mystery spinners are the prevailing currency in cricket; once a T20 specialty, such bowlers are increasingly making a mark in ODIs and Tests. “110 percent, experts are saying mystery spinners are difficult to read. Even our players from the sub-continent cannot read them well. Most of those from outside struggle,” Masroor said.
The problem with Abrar has been his fitness. On one hand, getting acceptance for his brand of bowling took time. He also suffered a stress fracture early that took away significant time from his fledgling career. With Pakistan’s spin resources in white-ball cricket bare, many experts believe Abrar has been overbowled across formats.
“His pace and bounce have been affected because of fitness issues. It is something he is working to regain,” said Masroor. “The other thing with mystery spinners is that with the kind of analysis that is happening, they are being constantly scrutinised. Every six months, you have to develop something. With the same pattern, batters can dominate against you.”
Abrar runs to the crease searching for a wicket. His ability to bowl wicket-to-wicket and possessing all the three major weapons – leg-spinner, floated googly and the flipper – make him a difficult bowler to negotiate. When under the pump, he goes for a wicket. It’s how he got Ben Duckett on Test debut in Multan when the English batters went after him with the sweep and reverse sweep.
“He’s always positive. Even when he is being hit, he wants to get the batter out. He is not fond of stock bowling. In fact, we sometimes say, he mixes it up too frequently and doesn’t bowl process-vali bowling. That he will learn.”
What coaches like about Abrar is his attitude to fight, to bowl in ‘fasi hui match’ (bowl when the match is on the line). It is a trait they hope will hold him good stead, in a contest where talent alone won’t get you through.
