Talking about Monty Panesar a few years back, the Australian spin great Shane Warne said: "Monty Panesar hasn't played 33 Tests, he's played one Test 33 times".
Warne was referring to the England spinner's predictability as a bowler. Panesar's lack of variation and one-dimensional approach eventually led to him missing out on a central contract two years ago.
With the emergence of Graeme Swann as the leading spinner in the world and given England's wealth of fast bowling talent, Panesar has failed to a find a place in England's Test set-up. He played the last of his 39 Tests in July 2009.
He is back in the England squad, though, for the series against Pakistan in the UAE after an impressive performance for Sussex in Division One of the English County Championship, where he bagged a chart-topping 69 wickets last season. More recently, he has been playing grade cricket in Sydney.
While in Australia, Panesar, 29, also shed perceptions of being a shy young man when he took the stage to perform with the former Australia pace bowler Mike Whitney's band.
"Mike played a big role in bringing me to Sydney and he suggested I came along to one of his gigs," Panesar said. "It was his idea to get me up on stage and sing. It was only meant to be one song … but for some reason I was well received and ended up on stage for the best part of an hour."
Panesar said that gig has helped develop his personality and taught him to "relax and enjoy cricket more". Will he be able to make Pakistan's batsmen dance to his tune then?
