Former Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mushtaq has revealed that in the 1999 World Cup he had sneaked his wife into hotels and hid her in the cupboard when the manager or the coach came knocking.
During a candid interview with ESPNcricinfo, Saqlain was quoted saying:
“At the 1999 World Cup we’d been travelling with our wives and family, enjoying the tournament, but before the semi-final the management said that wives are not allowed. I said to Sana (wife): ‘I’m not going to send you home. I’m feeling comfortable. You’re going to stay here.
“So I gave her a list of the hotels. She would check in before me, and I kept her in my room. Whenever the manager and coach came knocking, I told her to go and hide in the cupboard.”
Saqlain, who is known for coming up with the ‘Doosra’, also narrated another episode regarding his silly tiff with team-mate Yousuf in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2001
“Me and Yousuf were playing cards before the Christchurch Test (2001), joking around, taking the mickey and then we got into a bit of an argument. I said: ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.
“Next day, Yousuf was batting when I went in. I said: ‘Yousuf, have you forgiven me? This is a Test match, we have to clear this up.’ But he didn’t want to talk to me. So I said, ‘Okay, I’m not going to stand next to you.’ One of the New Zealand bowlers bowled one in my area and I hit it for a one-bounce four. The dressing room was like: ‘What are you doing? You need to stay there and support Yousuf’,” Saqlain said.
“I said to Yousuf: ‘If you’re not going to talk to me, I’m going to smack every ball.’ He said: ‘Do whatever you want.’ This happened every time I hit a four: same reaction from dressing room, same reaction from Yousuf. At the end of the day, I was on 20-odd and Yousuf was on about 70,” he added.
Later when Saqlain got back to the hotel, Yousuf had written a note to him, saying, “Saqi bhai, sorry, I was just joking with you, but tomorrow is a very important day. If you stay I can make a hundred and get the bonus.”