KARACHI, June 28: Predicting bright future for young leg-spinner Yasir Shah, Pakistan’s legendary Test leg-spinner Abdul Qadir on Thursday said Pakistan was definitely lagging behind in this category of spin.

“My recent and past surveys make me opine that the authorities concerned and coaches have to work hard in preparing and developing this dying art of spin bowling,” Qadir said in an interview at the National Stadium here on Thursday.

Qadir is here to supervise open trials to select talented spinners — in 17-25 age group — for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) under its talent hunt programme.

“In my opinion, 26-year-old Yasir Shah is the best available successor to Danish Kaneria,” he stressed. “If Yasir keeps working hard and is given proper guidance, he can develop into a good leg-spinner.

“Leg-spin is not an easy job. It is a natural art which can be improved with the passage of time,” Qadir, who took 236 wickets in 67 Test matches and 132 in 104 ODIs for Pakistan, said. “This type of spin bowling requires arduous work [by the bowler] and it take years to master it.

“Leg-spin bowling remained Pakistan’s main weapon against top teams like Australia, England and the West Indies. But now we are finding it difficult to spot good leg-spin talent in domestic cricket,” Qadir lamented.

Noting there were many young aspiring batsmen, fast bowlers and off-spinners at PCB’s open trials held in Peshawar, Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Qadir said he could hardly find any promising leg-spinner among those.—APP