DUBAI // Aaqib Javed, the UAE coach, is confident Nasir Aziz will remain a potent threat for the national team, even though his doosra has been outlawed.
The diminutive off-spinner established himself as the country’s leading bowler with a flurry of wickets in UAE colours last year.
They were then deprived of his services after he was reported for a suspected illegal bowling action by umpires during the World Twenty20 qualifier here last year.
A delay in processing his visa ahead of the trip to an International Cricket Council (ICC)-approved biomechanics laboratory in Australia meant he missed the UAE’s successful 50-over World Cup qualifying campaign in New Zealand.
When the bowling action he uses to deliver his doosra – the ball that spins from leg to off – was deemed illegal, his international career appeared to be over.
Aziz has developed two new variations since and was recalled to the national team for this month’s tour of Perth and Darwin. “If not 100 per cent, then at least 95 per cent,” Aaqib said when asked if Aziz could reach the same standard as before despite losing his favoured variation.
“He is so talented. I have never seen anyone before lose their doosra, then develop a carom ball, the sort that [Ajantha] Mendis or [Ravichandran] Ashwin bowls.
“So he still has three variations: normal off-spin, the faster arm-ball and the carom ball.
“Nowadays, if you look at the 50-over game especially, if bowlers don’t have plenty of variety, they have no chance.”
The UAE turned away from accepted wisdom when they qualified for the World Cup on the back of stellar performances by a four-man pace-bowling attack.
The national team’s game plan has always relied on the strength of their spin-bowling department.
It had been often suggested that once the UAE had to venture away from home comforts in Sharjah, their chances were minimal.
Having faced the polar opposite of subcontinental conditions at the qualifying competition in New Zealand at the start of this year, though, the UAE team thrived.
Aaqib is optimistic the pace battery, complemented by Aziz’s return to the spin department, can be similarly successful on the bouncy pitches of Australia.
“With his carom ball, bounce will be really encouraging, so we are hoping Nasir will do well,” the coach said.
“We still have three or four months to really assess what we need in Australia. In New Zealand we played with five seamers, so I think they will be playing the main role, but we need spinners to back that up.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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