Saad-ul-Haq: Shane Warne in the making?

By Syed Khalid Mahmood
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

As they say one should aim high. Saad-ul-Haq is only 11 years old and imagining him to become a leg-spinning wizard in future may look too ambitious at this stage but you never know.

This Florida-born lad has cricket in blood. His father, Naeem-ul-Haq, played first-class cricket in Pakistan. His uncle, Anwar-ul-Haq, who was a prolific opening batsman, came very close to representing Pakistan at the international level. 

Not surprisingly Saad has had the passion for cricket since childhood even though he has been brought up in the United States of America (USA) where the sport doesn’t enjoy the kind of popularity it has in Pakistan. 

Saad, a natural leg-spinner, who turns the ball quite a bit, seems to be having a burning desire to succeed in cricket.

In order to fulfill his dream into reality he is a regular visitor to the Florida Cricket Academy over the weekends when the enthusiastic learners are provided the much-needed lessons by qualified coaches.

He was barely four years old when Shane Warne, the legendary Australian leg-spinner, had decided to his hang boots but he heard and read so many stories about the champion which fascinated him endlessly. 

Well Warnie was quite a character and we many never witness another version of Shane Warne ever but there’s always an incentive to model yourself on his lines because even if you achieve even a few of his traits you could still be making big. 

Naeem-ul-Haq, who is a qualified coach, believes that his son has the potential to grow and he can blossom into a real good spin bowler in future. 

With the Florida Cricket Academy planning a tour of Pakistan early next year, it would be interesting to see if Saad also accompanies the squad.