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Two weeks before they played each other in the Australian Open final in 2017, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were ailing, injured athletes who were perhaps fading into the twilight. When, against the odds, they wound up facing each other in the final, the victorious Federer famously said, “Tennis is a cruel sport, there are no draws, but if there was going to be one I would have been very happy to accept one tonight and share it with Rafa.”
Sajid Khan and Noman Ali had similarly faded from view until a fortnight ago, having played no first-class cricket, and with no realistic ambitions of an imminent return to the Pakistan side. So when they did, and ended up sharing 39 of England’s 40 wickets to fall over the past two Tests, Sajid, awarded the Player of the Series trophy, expressed much the same sentiment.
“Nomi bhai is one of the most experienced players on the Pakistan domestic circuit,” Sajid said at the presentation. “We should be sharing these Player of the Series awards. He’s a great spinner who has mentored and helped me as well, and so every bit as much credit goes to him.”
This will be a series to forget for England, but in Pakistan, it is this duo it will be remembered for. That they would run through England’s batters appears inevitable in hindsight; but when England rocked along to 211 for 2 in the first innings in Multan – on a pitch Sajid said offered something “even if the spinner did nothing” – it was Sajid and Noman’s reputations on the line.
And though Sajid insists the match situation didn’t worry him, the weight of expectation on him was a different matter. “There wasn’t so much pressure [of the series] but [there was] some pressure of the comeback. The captain, the vice captain, the whole team was gelling well together. We play domestic cricket together, on these kinds of wickets, so there wasn’t that much pressure.”
The 38-year old Noman has the experience to know not to take any opportunity for granted. “I feel it’s been a while since we’ve performed well in Pakistan,” he said, sat alongside Sajid at the post-series press conference. “We’re grateful we had the conditions for the opportunity to win the series this way. The way we came back is especially pleasing, and we hope we get similar conditions in future and we’ll pose difficulties for other teams.”
But Noman also recognised the extent to which Pakistan got away with one here. The plan to pivot sharply to spin was, much like the surfaces they decided to use, half-baked. Their first-choice spinner Abrar Ahmed was out of the series, and the three spinners Pakistan called upon hadn’t played any first-class cricket since January. If England were to be beaten, it would happen through Sajid and Noman’s muscle memory and experience.
If Pakistan are to employ this strategy in the future – the prospect of which Noman was unsurprisingly supportive – he believed they needed to do it properly. “I think if you want to prepare spinners, you need to play more red-ball cricket,” he said. “You get all kinds of conditions in first-class cricket with new and old ball. When you do that, it gives you a lot of experience.”
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