One of the finest and most eccentric leg-spinners produced by Pakistan, Mushtaq continues to be an extremely likeable personality who played a big role in realizing one of the biggest dreams of his country.
Mushtaq, who turns 46, made his Test debut in 1990 and while he didn’t run through sides regularly he did end up with 185 wickets in 52 Test matches. It was in ODIs, however, that he found greater glory.
Blessed with a whippy action and a deceptive wrong ‘un, Mushtaq was difficult to face in limited overs cricket and he proved his worth in the 1992 World Cup, where in the final his two critical wickets of Graeme Gooch and Graeme Hick sparked Pakistan’s victory march.
After his retirement, Mushtaq took up coaching and has enjoyed stints with England, and on the county cricket circuit in the UK.
1971: Fabien Barthez, former Manchester United and France goalkeeper (45).
1973: Alberto Berasategui, Spaniard who was French Open runner-up in 1994 (43).
1985: Wahab Riaz, Pakistan left-arm fast bowler with more than 150 international wickets (31).
1991: Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City midfielder and Belgium international (25).
