Thirty-seven seems to be an appropriate age to end a cricketing career. It is around the 35 mark that sports journalists start asking uncomfortable questions and hanging up the boots really becomes a reality. Thirty-seven gives the players just around enough time to consolidate and wrap up their careers from that point.
Trends, of course, have varied – especially in recent times. With fitness standards rising with every passing year, cricketers have stuck around much beyond that. The best examples are close to home, with Younis Khan probably in good enough shape to still play for another year, not to mention the near 45 year old Misbah ul Haq who is still at it in the domestic circuit.
But if there is one breed of cricketer that has always been capable of playing well beyond their golden years, it is spin bowlers. Thus, it will have been doubly sad for former Pakistan left arm spinner Abdur Rehman to call it quits at the age of 38.
Of course what makes Abdur Rehman’s retirement more bitter than sweet is that the last time he played a test game was back in August 2014. Back then, he was 34, and still had much cricket left in him. Sidelined after fitness and drug consumption issues, he is leaving the game with 99 test wickets in 22 tests. The desire he expressed many times to round it off to 100 goes unfulfilled.
One of the many spin partners that Saeed Ajmal worked in tandem with, Abdur Rehman was a bright prospect. Unlike Ajmal or Zulfiqar Babar, he was actually picked young and was supposed to be the next Mushtaq – as all Pakistani spinners are when they first show up.
His career remained a topsy turvy ride, however, with him only gaining a steady spot under Misbah ul Haq in 2010. Along with Saeed Ajmal, he was Misbah’s go to guy in a new spin heavy set-up he was trying to push.
When he first came to the scene in 2007, he impressed with two successive four wicket halls against a strong South Africa team in Karachi. But his performances lagged after that and he failed to make a strong appearance in the next 5 years, appearing for the odd series and mostly laying on the peripheries of selection.
It was his back-to-back five-fors against England during their 2012 tour to the UAE are what sealed Pakistan their 3-0 whitewash over the then number 1 ranked squad and marked the beginning of a period of dominating every opponent in the deserts of the UAE. Those spells also marked Abdur Rehaman’s best time as part of the Pakistan squad.
While he does not have much to show for in limited overs performance, his slow orthodox angled spin much better suited to the longest format of the game, he also had the ability to make clean strikes and has two test fifties to his name, both of which included mighty heaves that delighted the crowds and the dressing room.
It was unfortunate that after that monumental 2012 performance, he lost some of his mojo and fell out of form. The disinterest did not bode well, and the no-nonesense Misbah squad soon found a replacement in the shape of Zulfiqar Babar – a late bloomer, and then again with Yasir Shah and Shadab Khan and now Bilal Asif.
As with many others, at the end, Abdur Rehman’s career is a story of could-haves. Yet one has to feel for him. After all, the problem with retiring from a sport is usually also that you retire from what you love. And if his wistfulness is anything to go by, his greatest regret is probably not making that 100th wicket.
