Warne and Yasir plot England’s downfall

Sharjah: Trust Shane Warne to turn up in any plot involving the downfall of England. On Thursday, Sharjah Cricket Stadium witnessed the legendary leg-spinner spending time with Pakistan’s rising star Yasir Shah, obviously giving the youngster pointers on how to bamboozle the England batsmen, the way he had done throughout his illustrious career. Watching the two meet and discuss the art of leg spin were two other leg-spinners of the past — Pakistan’s bowling Coach Mushtaq Ahmad and team manager Intikhab Alam.

Warne’s gesture to come all the way to Sharjah stadium to give tips to Yasir was lauded by Intikhab, who said: “It is a very kind gesture by Warne to come and work with Yasir and give him a piece of advice and we see a lot of difference. We are grateful to him for coming here.”

For Yasir, it turned out to be a dream come true to be able to train with his idol Warne. “I had a wish from my childhood that I wanted to bowl with him and play with him and I was excited to have him here for me. I am very happy to get the feedback from him and hear him speak highly about me.”

Speaking after the session with Yasir, Warne stunned everyone by saying that he is a fan of Yasir. “I have always been a fan of Yasir since the first time I saw him sometime back, probably the best leg-spinner in the world, the way he bowls and the way the ball come out of his hand. Probably I am a bit biased towards leg-spinners and it’s nice to see both Yasir and (Adil) Rashid in this series and it’s fantastic. I love seeing spin bowling and I am very passionate about it.”

Warne said he loves to help the spinners. “I have always liked to help as many spin bowlers as I possibly can whether it’s (Danish) Kaneria, who I have helped a little bit, or Graeme Swann, (Anil) Kumble, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushy (Mushtaq Ahmad) and Dan Vettori. All of the spinners have got a club, so we always try to help each other and we are bit different, think differently than most people.”

Talking about working with Yasir he said: “It was a fantastic opportunity to work with Yasir who is fantastic; we worked on a couple of things. I am not big on working on technical things because you have your natural gift and what is natural to you, so it’s no point working on technical things especially in the middle of a Test series. During the off-season, when you have time maybe I can work on things. He is a wonderful bowler, beautiful, so we just worked on the thinking bit, who he has been having trouble with England side, some tactics and plans, how he can be a little bit better. He wants a bit more drift and bounce, bowling round the wicket and over the wicket and little things that can actually help and I hope by the end of the series he will be bowling beautifully and with a huge smile on his face. We couldn’t communicate that well but when he was smiling afterwards I knew whatever I gave was pretty good. It was a nice hour or so and that was good fun.”

When Yasir was asked about the tips he received, he said: “He didn’t find any problem in my bowling action. He emphasised that Test cricket is played with patience and I don’t need to rush hard and waste energy but just keep myself calm. His tips are very much useful and I am going to try a longer run, but not during the series. I can’t make any difference instantly.”

When Warne was asked what makes Yasir stand out, he said: “He is a wonderful bowler now, he hasn’t played a lot but he is a class bowler. He has only had a a dozen Tests but he has played a lot of first class cricket so he is the best spinner in the world. Test match cricket is what we all love and spinners can excel in this format.

Pakistan are 1-0 up so can England come back?

“It will be a gripping Test match (in Sharjah) and it will be nice to have two leg-spinners on display and I think it will be great with Yasir and Rashid right up there on the rankings and that will bring a big smile on my face, so I hope that both do well in this Test match and it will be nice to see them trying their best for their team. Lastly, I suppose for me, how the bowlers think at the top of their mark, what they think when they are bowling, how they struggling when things are not going their way, so those were couple of things we worked on, and the good thing is he is happy and he will go away and hopefully in the next couple of day days start ripping and getting wickets and that will be great.”