Imagine you play for a country for more than a year, and still, your countrymen couldn’t even get the name of your village.
That’s the life of Mohammad Abbas who is ripping Australia right now at UAE.
A decade ago, even Abbas would not have thought that he would be here. For a welder, who later worked in a leather industry, becoming an office boy in the court was itself a big “achievement”.
While working there, he got selected for district under-19 tournament. He was in a dilemma to choose between cricket the job, but a friend advised him to do the both and Abbas did. He worked as the office boy while practising the game.
Fortune favours the brave they say, and it was the case for Abbas as well. During the U-19 tournament, the team had to select between him and another player from the squad who was the secretary’s son. The decision made through a toss, and luckily the toss went in favour of him. He picked up five wickets, and he never looked back.
Of course, there are a lot of people who played a big part in his life. To start with Mohammad Asif.
After some years, Abbas outgrew his village and was selected to play for Saikot, Grade two cricket where he shared a dressing room with Asif. The two years he spent with Asif did play a vital role in his career.
Talking about his selection in the international team, it didn’t come easy either.
In the past few years, there’s a lot of changes in the pitches in Pakistan. They have gone greener from dry, and the team Khan Research Laboratories/ Kahuta Research Laboratories or simply KRL’s home ground suffered the most. Though KRL produced a few great bowlers, most of them became “conditions” bowlers. The average number of deliveries to the wicket is just under 18 there.
In the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan’s first-class cricket, the team KRL had batsmen with an average not more than 35, but they still made it to top 8 among 16 teams. The team depended majorly on their bowlers who piled up wickets, but they were termed as “conditions” bowlers.
In 2015, Mohammad Abbas was signed by KRL to be Sadaf Hussain’s new ball partner. His major role was to assist Hussain. In the 2015/2016 season, Abbas made everyone speechless by picking up 61 wickets. No other bowler even touched the 50-mark.
But He was again tagged as typical “KRL” bowler and wasn’t selected for the then Windies tour despite the fact that Misbah wanted him on the team. Disappointed Abbas waited for the next season, and knew what he had to do. He tried to make batsmen play the ball as much as possible. He made sure on the grounds where he found find swing, he pitched the ball up, and where the pitches are slow he dragged back his length a bit.
The wickets started to pile up. In the next season of the first class cricket, he picked up 71 wickets. In two seasons he gathered 132 wickets while none of the bowlers even touched the 90-mark.
Thus, making his name to the probable. Still, the bowlers like Wahab Riaz, Amir were preferred because most of the matches in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy lasted only for three to four days. So, the selectors questioned whether Abbas can bowl till 5 pm and come back the next day to bowl at 11 am.
Abbas proved everyone wrong. He now has bowled overs more than the other five pacers, and in fact, he is economical than others. Abbas also played a major role in Pakistan’s famous victory over England in Lords recently. He ended with figures of 8/64.
And Abbas keeps improving. With yet another great performance, a 10-fer to rattle Australia. If he can continue to dominate like this, Pakistan is in a good place.england Vs Abbas, Abbas tending bowler ,
