Cricket, unlike most other team games, gives more space and opportunities to partnerships, pampering them to thrive in its intricacies.

So we find two batters forging forces to torment rival bowlers, or two pacers breathing fire from both ends of the wicket to give nightmares to the batters, or even a captain-coach pair — Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum the most recent example — who devise world-beating strategies together to scale newer peaks.

But that’s not all, there’s one more partnership in cricket which is not talked about often even though it boasts of some of the legendary names in its club... A pair of spinners. Or spin twins, as they are popularly called.

Why are we talking of spin twins now? Because two Pakistani spinners have burst onto the scene from practically nowhere to hunt down England’s renowned Bazballers. They have spun a tale of triumph that will go down in cricketing folklore as one of the most dramatic turnarounds for a team. Sajid Khan and Noman Ali belonged to obscurity even a few days back, but at present they are cricketing royalty.

After Pakistan suffered an innings defeat in the first Test, Sajid and Noman changed the script completely taking 39 of the 40 England wickets in the next two Tests. In doing so, they have revived memories of some of the fabled spin combinations in cricket.

It’s not often that the sport throws up a pair of spinners who weave magic together. A search for the most successful bowling pair combinations in cricket would end up showing a list in which none of the top five is a spinner-spinner combination. England pacers James Anderson and Stuart Broad are the toppers, having snared 1039 wickets while playing together. The ones who follow in the top-five are Shane Warne-Glenn McGrath (1001), Muthiah Muralidaran-Chaminda Vaas (895), Curtly Ambrose-Courtney Walsh (762) and Nathan Lyon-Mitchell Starc (671).

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are the best-placed pair of spinners on that list at No. 6. They have taken 574 wickets while playing together. The next best is the combination of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, who come in at No. 14 with 501 dismissals. So it’s easy to understand why Sajid and Noman have tickled curiosity.

Talking of spin twins, though Ashwin and Jadeja have been excellent partners in dismantling opposition line-ups and command respect from world over, they are not the most famous ones. That title would perhaps go to Jim Laker and Tony Lock.

Englishmen Laker and Lock, as a pair, are probably more famous for their exploits for Surrey than for their national team. Though the term ‘spin twins’ has been generously used while talking of them, they were basically men of contrasting personalities and styles. What united them — besides both courting controversies later in their respective lives — was their love for their craft and some amazing results that their onfield partnership produced.

Laker was an excellent off-spinner who was reserved in nature, while Lock, the left-arm orthodox, was excitable and wore his heart on his sleeve. It was an odd pair, but an effective one. In the 24 Tests they played together, they picked up 206 wickets at an average of 17.90. The two featured in the famous Old Trafford Test of 1956 where they shared all 20 Australian wickets to fall. That Laker took 19 of them is a different story though. For Surrey, they were unstoppable with 3108 wickets together.

Like Laker and Lock, Bishan Singh Bedi and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar too seemed an odd pair, but they too did magic together. Part of India’s famous spin quartet, Bedi was a left-arm spinner with a feisty, fast bowler-like approach, while Chandra, as he was fondly called, was a nimble leg-spinner who was a master of guile. Together they totalled 368 wickets in only 42 Tests.

The West Indian duo of Alf Valentine and Sonny Ramadhin, with 224 wickets from 29 Tests, were also prominent as a pair. They were one of the most frugal slow-bowling pairs as both had economies of less than 2. Before the Caribbean pacers would change the game in the late 70s and 80s, Valentine and Ramadhin were the Calypso boys who famously scalped 59 of the 80 English wickets to fall in the 1950 series in England. Again, dissimilarities defined the pair. Off-spinner Ramadhin was a diminutive Trinidadian, while left-arm practitioner Valentine was a lanky, bespectacled Jamaican.

There were a few other pairs who too excelled, but the list is not long. The Sajid-Noman pair looks promising, but have they arrived a bit late? Sajid is 31, Noman 38. But then, they are masters in changing the script.

Intriguingly, all the above pairs, barring Bedi and Chandra, feature an off-spinner and a slow left-arm spinner. Isn’t that reason enough to be interested in the Sajid-Noman pair?