Australia recently inducted Fawad Ahmed, after a change in its visa policy to play the leg-spinner of Pakistani origin , into their national set-up, and now have set their sights on another youngster from Pakistan Usman Qadir who is none other than the son of legendary Pakistan leg-spinner Abdul Qadir.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Usman, 19, played club cricket in Adelaide and for South Australia’s future league, which has elicited a lot of praise from coaches down there. It is apparent that Australia has struggled to find quality wrist spinners since Shane Warne‘s retirement.
Fearing that Pakistan may lose out on a future star, Pakistan Cricket Board has swung into action. There are reports suggesting that PCB has decided to include Usman in their Test squad for the tour of West Indies later this month. It comes as a surprise to many as Usman has yet not played a first-class game.
On the other hand, South Australia’s director of cricket Jamie Cox, said of Usman: “He has shown some interest (in representing Australia) but I also know he’s of significant interest in his home system, we’re pretty much tip-toeing our way through our options from here.”
Usman represented Pakistan in under-19 ODIs in 2012. His return to Adelaide this year is highly expected as Cricket Australia is keeping an eye on him.
“We’ve left the conversation very open but we’ve made it clear to him that if he’s going to come back here again we’re going to want more of a commitment,” Cox said.
“He hasn’t come out and said ‘if you can do this and that, then I’m yours’. I think he’s still very much considering it from what I can gather but he’s also very much in [Pakistan’s] eyes as well. We’ve sort of left it in Ussy’s hands.”
Since Shane Warne’s retirement, Australia have played musical chair with spinners like Nathan Lyon, who is currently the first-choice in Tests while Xavier Doherty is the lead spinner in ODIs.
Usman created shockwaves around the cricketing world in last December when he was quoted by a Pakistani web-site as saying: “I have been offered to play for Australia, but have not decided on that. I’ve left the final decision in my father’s hands.”
Usman’s father Abdul Qadir is regarded as one of the best leg-spinners ever to have played the game. He has 236 wickets from 67 Test matches.
