A bubbly, chubby legspinner with googlies aplenty, Mushtaq Ahmed styled himself on his hero, Abdul Qadir, whom he succeeded in the Pakistan team. Mushtaq was a match-winner, armed with a full house of legspin variations and at his best not far behind Shane Warne, his contemporary.

Some of his most memorable performances came away from home, in England and Australia. Mushtaq played a key role in propelling Imran's Tigers to World Cup glory in 1992, memorably snaring Graeme Hick with one of his googlies in the final. His standout purple patch in Tests ran over about 12 months in 1995 and 1996: he took nine wickets apiece in two matches on the trot, in Hobart and Sydney, followed that up with ten in Christchurch, 17 in three Tests against England on the tour there, and 18 wickets in two home Tests against New Zealand towards the end of 1996. A year later, he starred with 14 wickets across four innings in a series South Africa wrested from Pakistan 1-0, and then took twin five-fors in Peshawar in a big win against a West Indies side that contained Lara, Chanderpaul, Hooper and Simmons.

In 2003 he became the first bowler in five years to take 100 wickets in the English season, a return that was instrumental in guiding Sussex to the first Championship title in their history, a feat he and they repeated in 2006 and the following season.

Persistent knee trouble forced Mushtaq to retire from first-class cricket towards the end of the 2008 season, after which he was quickly snapped up by the ECB as England's spin-bowling coach. He went on to have stints with Pakistan, West Indies and Surrey in coaching roles.