Pakistan off-spinner Sajid Khan has revealed that he fooled England’s bowlers with false messages in Urdu.
Mostly, he confuses them with his spin angles and flighted deliveries. But on Friday, he used another tactic: speaking Urdu to confuse the English bowlers Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed, who understand the language.
After the fourth ball of the 86th over, Saud Shakeel turned the strike over to Sajid. They discussed their strategy loudly in Urdu, not caring if the stump mic picked it up. Sajid was supposed to play out the last two balls, but instead, he charged down the pitch and hit Shoaib Bashir over midwicket for a six.
Sajid later explained, saying, “We speak loudly in Urdu to deceive Rehan Ahmed and Shoaib Bashir, who understand the language. We wanted the bowlers to think we were only looking for a single, which made them bring the field up and fly the ball. Saud then told me to go for big shots.”
Sajid followed the plan, hitting two sixes and a boundary in the next over, scoring 19 runs off it. Even though Rehan kept him quieter later, Sajid still managed to clear the boundary comfortably. By this time, England’s bowling effort was falling apart, and Pakistan’s lead was growing.
Rehan acknowledged Sajid’s good batting but dismissed his claims of fooling them. He laughed, saying, “He didn’t fool me at all; he just said it for the media. I didn’t even hear him. I knew he was going to try and scoop me, but it didn’t really work. He batted well and hit some big shots, but he didn’t fool me or Bash.”
Sajid scored 48 runs in the second innings of the second Test, hitting 4 sixes and two boundaries.
