Watch: At Trent Bridge in 2001, Saqlain Mushtaq bowled a doosra that turned a proverbial mile to send Damien Martyn back.
By the time the eighth of the nine league matches went underway in Nottingham, Australia and Pakistan had already qualified for the final of the 2001 NatWest Series. Here, Pakistan captain Waqar Younis opted to bat, and Saleem Elahi (79) and Yousuf Youhana (44) – later Mohammad Yousuf – added 93 for the second wicket before some late-order hitting from Rashid Latif, Azhar Mahmood, and Wasim Akram took Pakistan to 290-9. For Australia, Brett Lee took 2-41 and Shane Warne 2-60.
Waqar (6-59) then took out Mark Waugh and Matthew Hayden in his first over, and Michael Bevan in his third. Adam Gilchrist (70 in 44 balls) launched a furious onslaught at the other end as Steve Waugh (56) stayed put, and Australia crossed 100 without further fuss.
Martyn arrived at the fall of Gilchrist’s wicket. It was only the 14th over, but Australia were 111-4 with Andrew Symonds to follow – in other words, they could afford to take it to the deep. Martyn flicked the first ball – the third of Saqlain’s over – for two, before defending the next two balls.
The one after that pitched on leg-stump. Martyn responded by playing down the line, as most batters would have, against off-spinners. But Saqlain was no ordinary bowler. Not only did he make the doosra mainstream in the previous decade, he could also control the extent of its turn. This one turned enough to take Martyn’s outside edge and fly to first slip, where Mahmood accepted the catch. “Shane Warne didn’t get the ball to spin so much,” quipped Michael Holding on air.
In hindsight, Martyn could probably have taken a hint from the field placement – slip, short gully, and silly mid-off, but no corresponding close fielder on the leg-side.
Waugh and Symonds (35) added 77, but the chase ran out of steam once Waqar dismissed both in the same over, with the score on 190. Australia were eventually bowled out for 254.
Watch Saqlain Mushtaq’s doosra here:
