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Tauseef Ahmed

'The ability to spin is more important than line and length'

How I got picked for my first Test sounds a little like a Cinderella story. I was playing club cricket in Karachi when the Pakistan team for the first Test against the visiting Australians was announced. One Mr Javed Sadiq, who had recently moved to our locality, saw me bowl in the club games. He knew Mushtaq Mohammad, the manager of the Pakistan team, and asked him to have a look at me. Mushtaq and the captain, Javed Miandad, were so impressed that the day before the start of the Test they included me in the playing XI instead of Ilyas Khan.

The most essential quality for a spinner is the ability to spin. Line and length come second.

After my first series, I got a job with United Bank's sports department. I played for their cricket team for 16 years. Next I played for Customs for one season. Then, from 1998 to 2001, I was a match referee in first-class cricket in Pakistan.

I was told by some Indian players that I look like Lionel Richie, who I wasn't familiar with. But when they showed me his photo, I couldn't agree more.

I didn't even know the names of most of the Aussie players in my first Test.

I shifted to Sharjah in 2001, to coach in a private academy. I had a feeling that having staged so many ODIs, Sharjah would provide a good environment for coaching. But it was mainly a money-making exercise. We were asked to give extra attention to pupils who paid more.

In my debut Test series in 1980, I took 12 wickets in Pakistan's win, but I was not considered for the national team for the next two Test series.