Sajid Khan proves Pakistan’s trump card yet again

There’s a lot to like about Pakistan off-spinner Sajid Khan, not least his bowling and celebration styles. The first one reminds you of his idol Saqlain Mushtaq and the second of India’s Shikhar Dhawan, although the 32-year-old claims the thigh-thumping celebration was something he did in his younger days and got penalised for it too.

On Tuesday at Port of Spain, Sajid broke the backbone of West Indies batting, claiming his second four-wicket haul of the second Test, after his battling 30-run innings took the visitors past West Indies’ first innings total of 344.

Sajid first took the wickets of Tagenarine Chanderpaul (17) and Amir Jangoo (13) before a stubborn partnership between Shai Hope and captain Roston Chase took West Indies to 99-3, giving them hope of reaching stumps with wickets in hand.

That all changed in the last five overs when Sajid trapped Hope lbw for 15 and Jayden Seales in the same manner for a two-ball duck to leave the hosts tottering on 103-6 in their second innings, just 60 runs ahead going into the fourth day.

This was after Sajid offered a measure of stability with the bat, putting on 59 for the seventh wicket with Abdullah Shafique, who made an unbeaten 160, as Pakistan finished their first innings with a 43-run lead.

Ever since he made his Test debut in 2021 when he took 12-128 against Bangladesh in Dhaka in December that year, Sajid has continued to add more variations to his bowling. He comes in wider of the crease to exploit footmarks when required, or simply to change the angle to bamboozle a batter. His action, which he admits is "difficult", allows him to vary the pace and trajectory without letting batters pick it up, something he believes is essential to his game.

"As an off-spinner, I have a bit of a complicated bowling style. I can't introduce too many new things to it," Sajid told Cricinfo. "Every coach I work with has said my strength is my sleight of hand. Batters find it hard to read my flight or variation in pace because my front arm moves very quickly – even if I'm bowling in the nets to our own batters."

Sajid, who hails from Mardan district of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, was passionate about cricket, and talented, but couldn’t find a permanent place in the Grade-II and First-Class squads.

Eventually, he travelled to Dubai in search of greener pastures. He used to work at Dubai airport five days a week and play cricket over the weekends.

He finally got a break after returning to Pakistan, making his first-class debut for Peshawar in the 2016-17 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

He kept sweating it out in the Pakistan domestic circuit before the doors of opportunity opened in January 2021, following the final of the 2020-21 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, where he was named as the Best Bowler of the tournament. He was the leading wicket-taker, claiming 67 wickets in 11 matches. As a result of his stellar show, he was named in Pakistan's Test squad for their series against South Africa in January. Then in March 2021, he was again named in Pakistan's Test squad, this time for their series against Zimbabwe, where he finally made his Test debut on April 29.

Since then, he has played in 15 Tests and taken 69 wickets with an incredible four 4-wicket hauls, four 5-wicket hauls and two 10-wicket hauls.

He has been the trump card in Pakistan’s spin arsenal many times before and has proved once again that in favourable conditions, he is always a handful.