There was a time when Mohammad Abbas, a former worker at a leather factory who also assisted lawyers as a clerk, had to choose between work and cricket, the biggest passion of his life.
With his family in rural Punjab, Pakistan, battling financial hardship, Abbas never had the luxury of pursuing his cricketing dream.
When a district Under-19 team asked him to leave his job for cricket, Abbas would have said no if not for the backing of a friend, a lawyer, who helped him find a balance between work and cricket.
But there was still a big obstacle in Abbas’s path despite his wonderful skills as a medium-pacer.
The Under-19 team had to make a call — whether to pick him or the son of the secretary.
“The decision was made through a toss,” he revealed in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.
“It went in my favour and I got five wickets. After that, I got into the region’s academy and there was no stopping me.”
Now, when England captain Joe Root goes for the toss on Wednesday for the first match of the three-Test series against Pakistan at Headingley, Leeds, Abbas’s ability as a seam bowler could be a major concern.
If Root wins the toss on the Headingley wicket, famous for its seamer-friendly nature, will he take the gamble of batting first and exposing a team in transition to the wily Abbas, who loves to exploit batters’ weaknesses?
It’s quite incredible that Abbas will be Pakistan’s trump card in England. For a man who had to defy the odds to become a full-time cricketer, Abbas’s journey at the highest level has been anything but smooth.
Since making his Test debut in 2017, Abbas has constantly battled for a place in the playing XI despite having an outstanding record in Test cricket — 118 wickets in 30 matches.
The 36-year-old may not be a household name in Pakistan, but his Test bowling average — 22.38 — is better than the career averages of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, three of the greatest fast bowlers of all time.
His lack of genuine speed — his average speed is around 77 miles per hour — often goes against him when Pakistan’s think-tank picks teams for Test matches.
Abbas has featured in only 30 of Pakistan’s 64 Test matches since April 2017, when he made his international debut.
He bowled his heart out in the first match of the two-Test series in the West Indies, taking eight wickets, including a brilliant five-wicket haul in the second innings.
But Pakistan lost, and Abbas was dropped for the next Test on a spin-friendly wicket in Port of Spain, where Pakistan’s spinners exploited the conditions to script a memorable win.
The Pakistani team management has also rarely shown faith in Abbas at home, where rank turners have been prepared in the past few years to put pressure on foreign batters.
Abbas has mostly been reduced to a horses-for-courses option by Pakistan.
And this is precisely the reason why this unassuming man finds himself in the spotlight in England as Pakistan prepare for a tough Test series.
In England’s seaming conditions, it’s Abbas who can break the door open for the Pakistanis with his movement off the seam and control.
The irony is not lost on those who have followed Abbas’s career, especially in English county cricket, where he has been a constant thorn in the flesh of batters.
Mickey Arthur, a former Pakistan coach, hails Abbas as a master craftsman.
“He’s almost like a surgeon in the way he works with that seam,” Arthur told the Guardian. “He can get it nipping in, nipping out. And he bowls a really good wobble ball as well, so he’s got it all.”
Peter Moores, the head coach of Nottinghamshire, was at a loss for words when asked why Pakistan keep ignoring this talented bowler.
“What he has done is he gets people out and that’s the job,” Moores told the Guardian.
“It’s like batters who aren’t as easy on the eye but score runs. And those players are so valuable. You’ve just got to make sure you treat them with the respect they deserve because his record tells you he gets wickets and he never lets you down.”
Pakistan are missing skipper Babar Azam in the first Test due to a finger injury.
In the absence of Pakistan’s best batter, the onus falls on arguably the greatest seam bowler in the country’s history to deliver probing spells and take wickets.
When the captain and the coach turn to him, he rarely lets them down.
Going by his track record, he may well rise to the challenge again.
For a man whose cricket story began with the toss of a coin, Abbas’s ability to make the ball dance will be playing on both captains’ minds when they go out for the toss on Wednesday.
Source: Khaleej Times