A different sort of leggie

A legspinner brings with him a certain allure; more so if he's Pakistani. Abdul Qadir blazed a trail, Mushtaq Ahmed followed suit and Danish Kaneria carries on the tradition.

Nineteen-year old Mansoor Amjad wishes to be spoken of in the same breath. He never saw Qadir bowl and missed watching Mushtaq in his prime but the power of television, where he had Shane Warne for inspiration, kept the flame burning.

As a gully cricketer in Sialkot, he was mainly a batsman. Six years ago, he tried his hand at legbreaks and the first one ripped past a plodding bat. That was enough for him to shift jobs; he decided he would try and be the next Warne.

Amjad is more than happy to invite you to his hotel room and immediately makes sure that refreshments are served. He will not begin chatting with you unless he feels you are comfortable. He reads out all the choices, not once but twice. He doesn’t like to analyse too much - “I follow my instincts” – isn’t flustered by bad days – “we legspinners have lots of bad days” – and tries not to think too far ahead – “I usually don’t make goals”.

The Under-19 World Cup in Dhaka, where he displayed tremendous variety, was the lever that catapulted him into the national consciousness. His high point so far – effecting the run-out that clinched the final for Pakistan and being part of that glittering celebration that followed. His tough moments – bowling in Pakistan in extreme winter on surfaces tailor-made for batting.

He admits that bowling to the Indian batsmen, while playing for Pakistan A in the warm-up game, was his biggest challenge to date and is simply happy for having been there. "Somehow I got a feeling that Sachin knew exactly what I was going to bowl even before I delivered the ball,” he says frankly. "Whatever I tried didn’t seem to matter."

He talks about the days in the academy when he bowled close to 40 overs a day and firmly believes that natural talent counts for nothing if one is not prepared to do the hard yards. The conversation veers towards other issues. He wonders if Indians feel like outsiders here; raves about a couple of Bollywood films; and talks about having done so much at such a young age. Asked about achieving this much this early, he speaks about the disadvantages.

A packed cricketing schedule has meant that education has had to take a back seat. “I wish I could spend more time with my studies but it’s close to impossible,” he says regretfully. "To be well educated is important. Cricket is something you can’t do forever. Education is what helps one in the long run."

He's determined to finish his O levels and hopes to do something more. "I will make time. It’s important to me, I’ll somehow manage." Talented and grounded, Pakistan's new kid on the block seems to know what he's doing.