On a cold Wednesday night, we waited patiently outside Chaman, the iconic ice cream parlour of Laxmi Chowk. Just as the waiter walked up to us with the menu, our ‘tour guide’ Saqlain Mushtaq promptly asked him to get their bestselling items.
“ Teen pistachio…” Saqlain ordered, before adding with a smile, “ yeh sabse badiya hai inke. Hum bachpan se khaa rahein isse (this is their best item. We have had them since childhood).”
As he talked about his years growing up on the busy streets of Lahore, Saqlain pointed towards a ground and said, “This is where it all started. This is where we would play cricket.”
As he enjoyed his ice cream, Saqlain narrated the story of how he mastered the art of bowling doosras while playing with his friends on the rooftop of his home.
As a youngster, he obviously had no idea he would feature in 49 Tests and 169 ODIs for Pakistan in his decade-long international career and go on to claim 496 wickets across formats.
“Back in those days, we would play mostly in the streets. During Ramzan, it was a routine to finish off iftar and then play cricket, until it was time for sehri. That was an integral part of our childhood – gully cricket,” Saqlain told Sportstar, adding: “When you grow up, you miss those days…”
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The former star spinner, indeed, was missing those days. So much so that in the next fifteen minutes, we found him in one of the streets, playing cricket with the youngsters. As soon as Saqlain got out of his car, the young cricketers, who were busy in a friendly game, gathered around him
“Saqlain bhai? Sahi mein? Saqlain bhai! (Oh, that’s really him!)” said one in disbelief. And in no time, quite a few people had taken a pitstop to watch the former international in action.
Saqlain batted for a while and flicked a few deliveries before stunning the onlookers with his good old spin. While the first delivery was a classic off-spin, the second one was a doosra. On both occasions, the batter failed to read the trajectory. Later, he happily obliged the kids with pictures and autographs.
“This brought back so many memories. As youngsters, we would make it a point to make the most of the opportunities and play cricket at night. But now, things have changed so much,” he said.
Having produced some of the top spinners in the past – including Saqlain, Abdul Qadir, Mushtaq Ahmed and Saeed Ajmal – Pakistan now struggles to find another world-class spinner. The team management’s decision to play just one spinner in the Champions Trophy drew flak as Pakistan bowed out of the tournament from the group stage, despite it hosting the event.
Saqlain hoped things will get better even as he reminisced about his time in the Pakistan dugout. “Those were wonderful days and with a bunch of extremely talented cricketers along with some of the biggest names of the game, it was indeed a huge learning for all of us.”
As we drove past several old buildings, Saqlain pointed towards a serpentine lane. “This is where Wasim Akram grew up as a cricketer.
“ Yeh Wasim bhai ka ilaka hai (This is Wasim’s area). This is where he played the game,” he said.
He added, “Back then, we did not have access to smartphones or gadgets, and once back from school or college, it’s the game of cricket that kept us going.” Well, it still does.
