Feb. 16: Former Pakistan spin bowler Saqlain Mushtaq revealed on Wednesday he smuggled his wife into his hotel room and hid her in a cupboard the day before the 1999 World Cup final in London.
“It was a double trouble for all of us because the management had barred us from keeping our wives with us and on the other hand people accused us of going out with girls, so I breached the code by asking my wife to stay with me,” Saqlain said.
“My wife Sana was with me in the room when the management decided to have a check on the players whether they were in the room or not, so I had to lock Sana in the cupboard, but I had to do that otherwise I would have been punished.”
Saqlain was one of the top off-spinners in his prime and was credited with inventing the doosra — a delivery which spins the opposite way from normal off-spin. Pakistan lost the 1999 Wold Cup final against Australia by eight wickets at Lord’s.
Narrating the incident, Saqlain recalled, “I had just got married to Sana who is a British citizen. Since I wanted to be close to her I gave her a list of the hotels where the team was to stay and she used to check in before our arrival at every hotel.” He said the night before the final while he was chatting with his wife in his room, team manager Dr Zafar Altaf and associate manager Masood Chisty knocked at the door to check if all the players were adhering to the curfew timings.
“Since I did not want to face any disciplinary action I told my wife to hide in the cupboard and locked the door from outside. Unfortunately her wait to come out become a long one. “After the manager left, coach Richard Pybus came to my room and after he left Mohammad Yousuf and Azhar Mehmood walked in.
“I felt sorry for my wife and was forced to ask her to come out of the cupboard leaving the players surprised,” Saqlain said. Talking about the final which Pakistan lost by eight wickets to Australia, the off-spinner admitted the decision to bat first after winning the toss in wet conditions was wrong.