by Arunabha Sengupta
Sussex County Cricket Club has had a succession of great Asian names associated with it. From KS Ranjitsinhji and his nephew Duleep, to MAK Pataudi and Imran Khan.
Mushtaq Ahmed, neither prince nor Prime Minister, is the only true plebeian in this constellation of Asian stars. Yet, it was he who spun Sussex to their first ever County Championship triumph. Not only that, he repeated the feat twice more.
The most underrated of them all, but perhaps the most potent. He was a very good bowler for Pakistan. But at Sussex, even the ones who know of the exploits of Lillywhite consider him the greatest of the county.
In the long history of the Club, there have been three Championship wins. Each time Mushtaq was the highest wicket-taker of the English season, marking him out as one of the greatest county cricketers of all time.
Hailing from a religious, hardworking but impoverished Sahiwal family, playing cricket was quite a physical, economic and social stretch for the young Mushtaq. Yet, driven by fascination and love for the game shared by millions of Paksitanis, the young lad started out modelling his bowling on Pakistan’s iconic leg-spinner Abdul Qadir.
One remembers his triumphant World Cup campaign of 1992, 16 scalps with that fascinating spell in the final, amounting to 3 for 41. The googly that foxed Graeme Hick was a ball to remember. Equally memorable was his wiggling his thumbs at Dermot Reeve when the latter tried to reverse sweep him and missed the ball by yards.
From late 1994 to early 1998 was the golden period for him in Test cricket. In 19 Tests, he captured 112 wickets at 23.78 with all the 10 five-wicket hauls and 3 ten-fors that he managed in his entire career.
This was the period when, alongside Shane Warne and Anil Kumble, Mushtaq brought the exciting art of leg-spin back in the limelight. While the other two were more successful, Mushtaq was the most classical with every traditional weapon in the leg-spinner’s arsenal, including massive turn and an incisive googly.
At the same time Mushtaq played for Somerset from 1993 to 1998. In 62 matches he captured 289 wickets for the county at 26.32. In his book Somerset County Cricket Club (100 Greats), Eddie Lawrence observed that he was one of Somerset's best-ever overseas signings. That placed him in an elite club alongside Viv Richards and Joel Garner.
Mushtaq probably stopped short of being a genuine Test great. But he was a county cricketer of colossal stature. And then as spin coach he had quite an influence in the career of Graeme Swann.
It will be fair to say that the chubby, ebullient spinner found an enduring home in Sussex—the oldest county cricket club.
In 2019, Maha and I worked on a project involving words, figures, paintings and sketches dwelling on all the Asian champions who have played for Sussex. There were portraits and life-stories of Ranji, Duleep, Pataudi, Imran and Mushtaq—all of which now hang on the walls of the Members’ Dining Room of the Club.
But as we delivered the frames following the historical chronology, we came across the repeated query. “Have you done Mushy yet?”
We did realise that for all the star value of the princes and prime ministers to made runs on the ground and run in to bowl from the Sea End, it is the plebeian who straddles the Hove Cricket Ground like a colossus. They love him there.
Mushtaq Ahmed was born on 28 June 1970.
Illustrations: Maha