Qadir supports hiring a spin coach

Legendary spinner feels Akram cannot guide slower bowlers.

KARACHI: Former Pakistan leg-spinner Abdul Qadir has endorsed calls for hiring a coach for the team’s spinners, an idea that gathered pace following the appointment of Mohammad Akram as the bowling coach.

Former captain Rashid Latif put forward the suggestion, advising the Pakistan Cricket Board to hire Saqlain Mushtaq as a spin-bowling coach. However, Akram said his expertise will not just be restricted to pacers and that he can help spinners too.

But Qadir, who played 67 Tests and 104 One-Day Internationals, disagreed.

“Spin bowling is the more artistic department of the game,” Qadir told The Express Tribune. “There is a lot more variation in it. A spinner puts a lot of thought into trapping a batsman and it’s a specialised job that needs an expert. A coach with fast-bowling credentials can’t be effective with the spinners.

“We have three to four spinners in the team. The appointment of Akram is a good step but I feel there’s need for a spin-bowling mentor as well. The other teams are doing it. Look at England — they didn’t hire Mushtaq Ahmed for no reason.”

Qadir, however, suggested ‘better’ steps to improve the team. “What I’ve been suggesting for two decades is to associate greats when the team tours. A separate mentor for each department will make a lot of difference during assignments.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2012.