Saqlain Mushtaq

Karachi, Feb 17: Pakistan’s former off break bowler and most successful spinner of the country on Wednesday admitted that he hidden his wife in the cupboard, the day before the final of 1999 cricket World Cup in London. He made it possible to enter his wife in the hotel room by some strategy and was successfully escaped from the security guards. “It was certainly a difficult moment for us as the management had restricted us to keep our wives living with us. Besides that people got angry when we take our girls out. I was very frustrated and therefore breached the code by asking my wife to stay with me,” Saqlain said on Wednesday.

“I was just married and my wife was a British citizen and she was with me during the initial part of the tournament. But as we reached towards the ‘Super Sixes’ stage, the management told us to focus on cricket rather than on personal life. I wanted to be very close to her so I gave her a list of hotel rooms, where the team was going to stay. She would check in all the hotels before we arrive,” Saqlain added.  “Sana was with me when the management decided to check out the rooms. They wanted to see that whether our wives are with us or not. So I was having only one option to lock her in the cupboard and I had to do that otherwise I would have been punished,” recalled Saqlain.

Saqlain was one of the dangerous and great bowler of his time and he was even credited of inventing the ‘doosra’ the ball which turns opposite way of normal off spin. Pakistan lost the 1999 World Cup final against Australia by eight wickets at Lord’s.  Saqlain said that he was forced to keep his wife with him as lot of people accused the Pakistani cricketers for taking out their girls outside.

Tags: Australia, Children, Cricket, England, Pakistan, Saqlain Mushtaq, Wife, World Cup, World Cup 1999