Each leg spinner was different with his own bag of special skills and techniques. Comparisons are difficult, specially over different eras, as the nature of the playing surfaces and the character of the game itself have changed. Statistics may not tell the whole story, but they do not lie.

We will show what the figures say and leave all inferences to be made by the readers themselves on the basis of their own judgement and preferences.

Danish Kaneria

261 Test wickets, average 34.79, strike rate 67.8 balls per wicket, economy rate of 3.07 runs per over.

Danish is the highest wicket taking leg spinner in Pakistan’s test cricket history with 261 Test wickets from 61 Tests. An underrated bowler, Danish was a big turner of the ball and obtained significant bounce as well because of his height. Ritchie Benaud thought that he had the best disguised googly in Test cricket. This ball fooled many a batsmen, but often left the wicketkeeper clueless as well, resulting in many missed stumping opportunities off his bowling that marred his statistics.

Danish was capable of bowling long spells with great control over line and length. His career was cut short because of match-fixing charges, forcing his exit from the Test scene before he had turned thirty.

Abdul Qadir

236 Test wickets, average 32.80, strike rate 72.56 balls per wicket, economy rate 2.71 runs per over.

Qadir was a true genius with the ball who revived the dying art of leg spin in the late 1970s and early 80s. Coming off a loping, bouncy run up to the wicket, he would deliver the ball with a great flourish of his arms. He had more than one standard leg spin delivery, varying both the flight and the turn of the ball, to conjure up a wide range of combinations. He possessed at least two different googles, unleashed at different speeds, and delivered with different arm actions, and also bowled the top spinner and the flipper with great accuracy and effect. He was often spoilt for choice, using too much variety rather than establishing a rhythm.

His captain Imran Khan used him as one of his main attacking bowlers, but his figures suffered because the umpires often failed to read the complexities of his armamentarium. Had DRS and ball tracking systems been available in his days, Qadir’s figures would have been significantly different.

Even the legendary Shane Warne identifies Qadir as his bowling idol. Graham Gooch who played against both Qadir and Warne rates Qadir as the better bowler.

Writing about him in the Guardian, Mike Selvey called him “the little paragon of prestidigitation, the sultan of spin.” Watching Qadir was akin to attending a show, mesmerized by his mystery and skill, rather than focusing on mundane statistics.

Yasir Shah

235 Test wickets, average 30.83, strike rate 57.87 balls per wicket, economy rate 3.19 runs per over.

Yasir is the third highest wicket-taker in Tests for Pakistan with 235 scalps. He is the second fastest bowler in Test history to capture 100 wickets, reaching the tally in only 17 Tests. In 2018 he became the fastest bowler to claim 200 Test wickets, doing so in only 33 Tests, and beating Charlie Grimmet’s record set in 1936.

Not surprisingly, Yasir has the best strike rate of all Pakistani leg spinners with a wicket every 58 deliveries. Shane Warne is a huge fan of Yasir’s, generously conceding that Yasir has more natural talent than he ever had. He describes Yasir’s standard delivery as a “ripping” leg break, calling it “as good a leg-break as you can possibly see.”

Yasir is still young and active in the game and has the potential of becoming Pakistan’s leading Test wicket taking leg spinner of all time.

In 2016, Yasir became the first leg spinner in 11 years to be ranked number one in the ICC Test bowling rankings. In November 2018, while playing against New Zealand in Dubai, Yasir became the second bowler in Test history, after Anil Kumble, to pick up 10 wickets in a day. Eight of Yasir’s victims were in the first innings and two in the second.

Mushtaq Ahmed

185 Test wickets, average 32.97, strike rate 67.74 balls per wicket, economy rate 2.92 runs per over.

Mushtaq modeled himself on Abdul Qadir. Exceptionally gifted, Mushtaq had an impetuous urgency about his bowling. A short animated run up to the wicket was followed by a blurred whirling of arms as the ball was delivered. Through frenzied appeals he would implore the umpire for a favorable decision and would be visibly dejected when the umpire failed to read his straight one or googly or allowed a batsman to get away despite deliberate padding. At times he was known to tell the umpire in advance which ball he was bowling next, so that the umpire could follow the the line and trajectory of the ball and be aided in making the correct decision when the batsman was beaten.

Mushtaq enjoyed outwitting his opponents and had a googly that Wisden called indecipherable. The image of Mushtaq flattening the wicket of a total bamboozled Graeme Hick with a googly, in the World Cup final of 1992, is etched in the mind of every Pakistani cricket lover. Sometimes his exuberance got the better of him and too many variations prevented him from settling into a rhythm that could frustrate the batsman.

Intikhab Alam

125 Test wickets, average 35.95, strike rate 83.79 balls per wicket, economy rate 2.57 runs per over.

Intikhab was a defensive leg spinner with a flattish leg-break as his stock delivery. He would contain batsmen and buy their wickets, as evidenced by an economy rate of 2.57 runs per over and a strike rate of a wicket every 84 balls. His main wicket taking ball was the flipper which kept low and skidded, often catching batsmen unawares.

Though he was not a big spinner of the ball Intikhab had learnt to vary his pace and flight according to the nature of the pitch and the state of the game and served as Pakistan’s leading leg spinner for over a decade.

He made history by getting a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket. This was against Australia in Karachi in 1959 and the victim was the Australian opener Colin McDonald.

Mushtaq Mohammad

79 Test wickets, average 29.22, strike rate 66.58 balls per wicket, economy rate 2.63 runs per over.

Mushtaq made his debut against the West Indies in 1959 aged 15 years and 124 days. He was a batting all rounder who also bowled leg spin, and was chosen primarily for his prowess with the bat.

Mushtaq had considerable variety, deceiving batsmen through flight as well as different versions of leg spin, the googly and the flipper. For a bowler with almost 1000 wickets in first-class cricket he was under utilized by Pakistan in test cricket, partly because of Intikhab’s presence and partly because the team needed him more as a batsman. He is, however, the only major Pakistani leg spinner to average under 30 runs per wicket and also has both the second best economy rate and strike rate in the list.

These are the six leading leg-spinners of Pakistan in Test cricket. Other leg spinners to have played for Pakistan include the mercurial Wasim Hasan Raja with 51 Test wickets and Shahid Khan Afridi with 47 Test scalps to his name.

Khalid Hasan and Shaikh Fazalur Rehman were leg spinners who were picked for the national side, on its tours of England in 1954 and to the Caribbean in 1957 respectively. Both played a single Test each without much success. Another leg spinner, Syed Ali Husain Naqvi played a solitary, uneventful Test against South Africa in 1997.

Amir Elahi began Pakistan’s leg spin tradition. He was already 44 years old when he played in all five Tests of Pakistan’s inaugural series in 1952. Shadab Khan is the latest addition to this elite band and has already played six tests for the national side.

Leg spin has been labeled as both romantic and eccentric. It is an art that sends the heart racing, its mysteries a joy to behold as they unravel. In its essence it is a source of both magic and joy and Pakistan test cricket has been fortunate to have been blessed with a succession of these enchanters.

Dr Salman Faridi is a senior surgeon, poet, sports aficionado and an avid reader with a private collection of over 7000 books. salmanfaridilnh@hotmail.com