Saqlain Mushtaq to assist England spinners during the tour of India

After helping the English team during the Test series against Pakistan a few months ago, Pakistan’s legendary spinner Saqlain Mushtaq will be helping the English side as their spin consultant for their all important 5-match Test series in India.

Saqlain Mushtaq will not only help the English bowlers to use the spin-friendly conditions in India to their best benefit but he will also be guiding the English batsmen to face Ashwin and co., a bowling unit that has caused havoc in the Indian conditions in last few years against every touring team.

“I have been entrusted the task of helping the English spinners prepare for the series in India where normally pitches help the spinners. I will also be giving tips to the English batsmen on how to counter the Indian spinners on their home pitches. It should be a challenging assignment.” – said the inventor of Doosra.

The 39-year old spinner last worked for England during the Test series against Pakistan and faced taunts of being a traitor for going against his former national side. But the Pakistani fans won’t mind much if Saqlain helps the English players to face India in the Test series.

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The 5-match Test series is scheduled to begin on November 9. Saqlain Mushtaq will reach India by November 1 and will stay with the touring English team till 15th November thus helping the team with their preparations and the first Test. He is not worried about the political stress between the two countries and is looking forward to coming to India. He said that he is a British national now and he is not expecting any kind of negative reaction because of his presence in India.

Moeen Ali expressed his joy on working with Saqlain Mushtaq with a tweet saying: “Loved having Saqlain Mushtaq to work with this week. Great coach and a great guy.”

The 39-year old off spinner can prove to be very fruitful for England given his record in India. Saqlain Mushtaq might have played only one Test series in India but was one of Pakistan’s finest performer in that series. Touring with the Pakistan side in 1999, Saqlain Mushtaq took 24 wickets taking four 5-wicket hauls. With his expertise of an off-spinner, he can certainly provide the English batsmen to counter Ashwin as England would be looking for their 4th consecutive test series win against India.