Dubai: Both the England and Pakistan teams are being helped by a bunch of the UAE's most promising spin bowlers during their stay here. They were seen bowling to some of the biggest names at the practice nets for hours and have been gaining a lot from the experience.
England's batsmen, especially, found these spinners very useful to sharpen their skills in playing spin as most of these bowlers had mastered the art of bowling the doosra like Saeed Ajmal. They will be in demand before the oncoming one-day series too as the new batsmen who have joined the England team can experience doosra deliveries before they actually face Ajmal.
Tariq Shah, Asad Ali, Fahad Ansari and Daniyal Shakeel play for Phoenix Medicines in domestic tournaments. During the Test series, they arrived much earlier than the teams, completed their warm-up and wait to be called to bowl at the international stars. These spinners, who are being trained at the Irfan Cricket Academy, are even guided by their coach Irfan Ansari to bowl as many good deliveries as possible.
"They [England] wanted us to bowl as many doosras as possible and we all know to bowl it comfortably. They were very happy when we bowled it to them," said off spinner Asad Ali, who had represented Pakistan Under-15 team before coming to the UAE.
Shah is the most experienced among all the spinners and he will qualify to play for the UAE team next year. Last season, he produced a deadly spell of five for seven with his off spin mixed with doosras against the star-studded Yogi Group team in the final of the Al Dhaid tournament.
Ansari is the UAE's Under-19 captain and has represented the UAE in Under-15 and Under-17 Asian tournaments. "England batsmen wanted us to bowl quick spin to them and wanted to have a tough time playing us. We gave our best and they are happy with our contribution," said Ansari, who is also a fine off spinner who has mastered bowling doosra.
Shakeel is a left-arm spinner who can bowl a tight length like Abdur Rahman. He is a UAE Under-17 player and in the Bukhatir League he once picked five wickets against the formidable Fly Emirates team.
"The experience of bowling against the great England batsmen has helped my boys and at the same time England has been able to face some good spinners," said coach Irfan Ansari, known for his ability to groom young talent.
