There was another talented and gifted Mohammed Zahid in the Pakistani cricketing scene, a left arm spinner who took nearly 600 first class wickets for PACO, Allied Bank and Bahawalpur.

6th September 2008

Mohammed Zahid is a name that is famous amongst fans of pace bowling throughout the world and conjures up images of extreme pace and hostility. However there was another talented and gifted Mohammed Zahid in the Pakistani cricketing scene, a left arm spinner who took nearly 600 first class wickets for PACO, Allied Bank and Bahawalpur. Zahid played against and alongside some of the Pakistani greats and despite now being 42 years of age is still enjoying his cricket and plying his trade in club cricket in the North East of England. 

A passionate talker, a very patriotic man and an individual who certainly loves the great game. PakPassion caught up with Zahid on one of his few days off from League cricket.


PakPassion.Net: Tell us about your playing career and some of the players you have played alongside? 

Mohammed Zahid: My first class career started in 85/86 when I was selected to play for Bahawalpur region against a very strong UBL team. Some of my colleagues in the early days were Mohammed Altaf, Qasim Shera, Shafiq Papa and Naved Anjum.


PakPassion.Net: How did you get into cricket? 

Mohammed Zahid: My 3 brothers and I all loved sport. Hockey and cricket were our life. My eldest brother played first class cricket too and one of my brothers who was a talented cricketer himself played hockey at a decent standard after being asked by Samiullah to give up cricket and instead play hockey. However though in those days it was difficult to support a family on just playing cricket and my eldest brother gave up the game to concentrate on a profession.


PakPassion.Net: When we first met you mentioned to me that you feel that "politics" and "partybaazi" are hurting Pakistani cricket and that you thought there is a split in the current squad? 

Mohammed Zahid: Yes indeed, I stand by that comment. There is a lot of mistrust amongst the current squad and the unity is not there. Perhaps this is down to not having a strong leader as captain. In my view, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Mohammed Yousuf and Shoaib Akhtar all have their own agendas and have the backing of certain players.


PakPassion.Net: You have taken nearly 600 wickets in your first class career, spanning 18 years. Any wickets that particularly stick in your mind? 

Mohammed Zahid: Domestic cricket has changed over the years. Whereas each team had 6 or 7 strong players, these days it would appear that there are a couple of decent players in each team. Some of my big wickets would have to be Aamir Sohail, Saeed Anwar, Javed Miandad, Inzamam ul Haq and Salim Malik.


PakPassion.Net: You have mentioned several times to me about overcoaching and players not being allowed to develop their natural flair and telent in Pakistan? 

Mohammed Zahid: Overcoaching causes confusion amongst players. The age where intense coaching is needed is early teens when players are still developing their technique. There is no point in trying to overhaul a bowlers action or the way a batsman plays the cover drive when that player is mid 20s or later. I hear too often that so and so bowlers action has been changed and it really annoys me. Yes make minor adjustments, but lets keep the natural flair and talent which has always served Pakistan well.


PakPassion.Net: You have been on several "A" tours with the Pakistan team including Sri Lanka and Kenya. Which players starred for Pakistan on those tours? 

Mohammed Zahid: Saeed Anwar, Aamir Sohail, Athar Laeeq, Ata ur Rehman, Iqbal Sikander and Moin Khan were all members of one or both of the tour partys.


PakPassion.Net: Have you ever been close to selection for the senior team? 

Mohammed Zahid: I have been present in the training camp on 9 or 10 occasions. In one season I took 80 plus wickets in domestic cricket but I was overlooked for some reason. When Pakistan were due to tour the West Indies in the early 1990s I was selected to tour, had my blazer measurements etc taken, but then rather mysteriously at the last ninute Nadeem Khan, the brother of Moin Khan was selected ahead of me.


PakPassion.Net: How would you compare the current standard of domestic cricket in Pakistan to when you played? 

Mohammed Zahid: In my day, each domestic team had 6 or 7 very good players. Our domestic cricket was very strong and amongst the strongest in the world. Nowadays it seems to me that each team has several average players or players that are past their best yet still manage to find a place ahead of deserving youngsters.


PakPassion.Net: Who is the best batsman you have bowled to? 

Mohammed Zahid: I would say it was Salim Malik. He was a batsman who was a brilliant strokemaker and who could hit any delivery to any part of the ground. You knew that if you erred slightly in line or length he would stroke the ball to the boundary with ease.


PakPassion.Net: Whose the fastest bowler you have ever faced? 

Mohammed Zahid: Thats a difficult question as I faced Wasim and Waqar at their peak. Wasim's swing was virtually unplayable at times. But for sheer pace I would say Waqar. He was breathtaking at times and the ball would whizz past your nose before you knew it or smash into your toes before you could get your bat down.


PakPassion.Net: We taled about Nadeem Iqbal when we met. He is someone you remember very fondly and we have a lot of pace fans on PP - please tell us a bit about him? 

Mohammed Zahid: He was a brilliant bowler who was superb at domestic level. He was someone who could bowl long, long spells without tiring. He was someone who was mentally very strong. If you looked at him. he wasnt that tall or very ell built, in fact he didnt look like a fast bowler, but when he had the ball in his hand he was ferocious. It was just unfortunate that he played during the heyday of the 2 Ws and Aqib Javed. If he was playing these days, he'd be a certainty in the starting lineup. He had very good control over line and length. As far as his action is concerned, it was all shoulder, very much like a right arm version of Wasim Akram in that the approach was gentle, but the pace was generated through a very quick and whippy action.


PakPassion.Net: You must have faced the other Muhammed Zahid, what was he like as a bowler? 

Mohammed Zahid: He was a very dangerous and difficult to face bowler. His pace is well known, but the bounce and lift that he got from a good length was at times virtually unplayable. He was a hard working cricketer and its a tragedy that injury cut short his career.


PakPassion.Net: Is it all the PCBs fault that Zahid couldnt play regularly at international level and fully recover from his injuries? 

Mohammed Zahid: I'm not sure about what happened behind the scenes with Zahid, but the PCB did pay for a lot of his treatment both in Pakistan and overseas. I just wonder if the player himself was at fault through too much cricket when he wasnt fully ready to play.


PakPassion.Net: Being a left arm spinner yourself, tell the members of PakPassion why you think we have not produced any great left arm spinners for a while? 

Mohammed Zahid: In my day we had myself, Muhammed Hussain, Massod Anwaar just to name but a few, but then off spinners and leggies became the "fashion". This meant that left arm spinners were not favoured by too many teams and gradually the art of left arm spin was almost faded out in domestic cricket, with teams rather picking the offies and leggies.


PakPassion.Net: What are your views on Abdul Rehman and is it fair to say that he has been dropped after some decent performances? 

Mohammed Zahid: In my opinion he has been dropped unfairly. The problem is too often the selectors pick a player expecting miracles straight away, when he doesnt perform straight away, they drop those players without them being given a fair chance. Left arm spinners are a very good option in both versions of the game - look at Vettori and Monty, they are proving that left arm spinners can trouble even the best batsmen.


PakPassion.Net: Who is the best coach you have played under? 

Mohammed Zahid: In all honesty no coach really stands out. Call me old fashioned, but I believe that the role of the coach is overrated. I've always relied on senior players within tyhe setup for advice. Some of the players that I would go to for advice on and off the pitch were Farooq Sheira my skipper at Bahawalpur in the early days and senior players like Sheikh Raheem. They would offer advice, tips and have faith and confidence in me. Look at when we won the World Cup in 92, Imran was a player, skipper and the coach. Intikhab was there as coach really only by name. 


PakPassion.Net: Who should be the current coach of the Pakistan team, the skipper and new Chairman of the PCB? 

Mohammed Zahid: The coach should not be a foreign one. We have a number of former players who can do a good job in this role. Miandad, Wasim and Waqar could do the job. As for the skipper's role, Malik is a decent cricketer, but to be skipper of the Pakistan team and to do the job with success you have to be a different type of person to Malik. I think Younis Khan or Shoaib Akhtar should have been made skipper after Inzamam's retirement. For the role of Chairman, names that spring to my mind are Imran Khan, Rameez Raja or Asif Iqbal. We need someone who can bring some unity into the team and instill some discipline.


PakPassion.Net: Some of our members will be surprised that you have mentioned Akhtar as skipper, why do you think he deserves a chance? 

Mohammed Zahid: My opinion is that our great fast bowlers made decent captains. Wasim, Waqar and Imran all were good captains in their time and inspired the team and the team played attacking cricket under them. Pakistan are always at their best when the play attacking cricket and I'm sure Shoaib's philosophy would have been based on attack. Also it would have presented him with a chance to show that he can be responsible and inspire others.


PakPassion.Net: Name some up and coming players that you think are talented enough to play for Pakistan regularly? 

Mohammed Zahid: I havent watched a great deal of domestic cricket recently, but the parts that I have watched have not inspired me. It seems like there are a lot of average cricketers playing domestic cricket, guys that dont even look fit enough to be playing first class cricket. A couple of players that do spring to mind that I think are decent are Kamran Hussein and Usman Tariq.


PakPassion.Net: What made Wasim and Waqar such great bowlers? 

Mohammed Zahid: Everyone knows that they had bags of talent and ability, but what fans didnt see was the immense amount of hard work they both put into their cricket. They would be the players doing extra laps when other players were back in the pavilion after training, they would be the players who would still be in the nets even after the the other players had finished practice. They took their lead from Imran Khan who himself was a very hard trainer and worked extremely hard on their fitness.


PakPassion.Net: Why are Pakistan currently struggling to climb to the top of the cricketing tree? 

Mohammed Zahid: The hunger of the modern Pakistani player is not there. It seems like its money first and performance second. The attitude seems to be to make as much money as possible in the shortest space of time, instead of looking to build long term careers in international cricket.