Short, occasionally strokeless, but with almost inhuman powers of concentration, Shoaib was very much the son of Hanif Mohammad. Usually an opener, like his father, he restricted himself mainly to off-side shots, and his cover-drive was the sweetest of the lot. A front-foot player, Shoaib scored five of his seven Test centuries against the pitch-it-up bowlers of New Zealand. He was an alert fielder in the covers, but just as comfortable roaming the deep on the leg side or under the helmet at short leg. As an occasional offspinner, he was just beneath the partnership-breaking category.
Lawrence Booth