Pakistan's new go-to bowler

"If something was happening, I would give the ball to Anil. If nothing was happening, I would give the ball to Anil. If we needed to contain runs, you give the ball to Anil. If you needed to attack, you give the ball to Anil."

This was how Sachin Tendulkar once summed up what a bowler like Anil Kumble meant to a captain.

For Pakistan between 2011 and 2014, Saeed Ajmal was the answer to everything for his captain Misbah-ul-Haq. The demands of the captain stayed the same but Ajmal's troubles with his action, and his struggles after returning with the kink in his elbow sorted out, left the -job of go-to bowler vacant. It has taken less than a year for Yasir Shah to step up and fill it.

Pakistan went into the Pallekele Test with three specialist seamers, but it took only 70 minutes for Misbah to bring Yasir on. It wasn't an unprecedented move, but it showed a glimpse of the belief Pakistan's captain has in his legspinner. It is the same sort of belief he had in Ajmal.

The move was prompted by Pakistan's struggles to maintain pressure with the new ball, as they leaked enough runs for Sri Lanka to get away to a bright start. Two left-handed batsmen in Upul Tharanga and Dimuth Karunaratne had settled in against the seamers but Yasir immediately answered his captain's call. He first pulled the scoring rate back, bringing it back below three an over when it had been above four at one stage. Later he picked up four wickets, ripping through the batting line-up to leave Sri Lanka 272 for 8 at stumps.

In many ways, Yasir is the definitive modern Pakistan cricketer; he can bat, he can field within the circle at point or in the deep - as he showed with his athletic dive at deep square leg late in the day to pouch Dhammika Prasad - and with his wrist can turn the ball on most surfaces.

Yasir was 28 when he played his first Test, and while that isn't exactly young for a debutant, it's certainly young when compared to Ajmal, who was nearly 32 when he first pulled on Pakistan's whites. And though the Test call came more than a decade since his first-class debut - which was back in 2002 - Yasir has grabbed his chance almost instantly.

He has been a dominant force on this Sri Lanka tour: his nine wickets in Galle - including figures of 7 for 76 in the second innings, the best by a visiting bowler in Sri Lanka - precipitated a gripping come-from-behind win, and he already has 21 wickets in the series with the third Test only a day old.

He has become the fastest Pakistan bowler to 50 Test wickets, and has statistically surpassed any of his predecessor spinners at a similar stage in their careers, but as Misbah suggested, his real test will come when he plays away from Asia.

Pallekele is Yasir's tenth Test since his debut in the series against Australia in the UAE, and perhaps hasn't been completely tested yet. Most of this Sri Lankan batting line-up is young and inexperienced, and the Kumar Sangakkara he snapped up twice in the first two Tests may not have been at his very best. Yasir might have to come up against Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers before we know exactly how good he is, but for now, he is answering every question he is being asked.

Some bowlers spend half their careers winning the confidence of their captains, and Yasir has done it in the matter of a handful of Tests. He brings Ajmal's infectiously positive attitude to the bowling crease, but his action raises no ticklish questions. While it may be premature to label him a great legspinner in the making, it is gratifying that Shane Warne is already among his most vocal fans. According to his spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed, Yasir has proved himself but has a lot ahead of him.

"Its too early to say that he can become the best," Mushtaq says. "But at the moment he is performing well and with the sort of confidence he has, he has to carry it through his career. Going ahead from here I think it is important is for him to be consistent and if he manages to play with the same attitude for another five years he can easy go on and play ten years from here.

"He has to bowl in different conditions and pitches around the world to get listed among the best and that is what would be a real test for him. Its not about bowling at certain batsmen who may give him problems but he obviously has to learn about bowling in different conditions like in England, Australia and South Africa - where he has to be proactive."

In his nine completed Tests so far, Yasir has picked up seven, five, four, seven, four, three, seven, nine and eight wickets. In Pallekele, with Sri Lanka yet to complete their first innings, he already has four. Pakistan have won five of the Test matches Yasir has played so far, and judging by his numbers, Mushtaq's assessment of him as a 'genuine match-winner' rings true.

"It's a great honor for me to work with such a wonderful bowler," Mushtaq says. "He has got great work ethic and he is a good listener. He has 21 wickets so far [in this series] and I believe it's a great start for a legspinner as he has already bowled well against Sri Lanka, who are one of the best teams when it comes to playing spin.

"I think it's a brilliant effort and a legspinner is always a match-winner as far as he is not bowling bad balls. If he continues to perform like this, believe me, it is going to help Pakistan a lot in reaching the top of the rankings. It's really tough to play him in the fourth innings and we are lucky to have a bowler who is a genuine match-winner."