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Mujeeb Zadran: The Afghan cricketer who grew up in a mansion

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Mujeeb Zadran seems unfazed in the luxurious surroundings of a plush hotel in Christchurch as he prepares to reveal his cricketing journey. It’s not uncommon to be mesmerized by the lavishness of a five-star hotel, and given the hardships players from Afghanistan have to confront to play cricket at the highest level, one would expect an U19 player to be daunted, too. Mujeeb, however, is different.

He grew up in a ‘haveli’, a traditional name for a mansion, in the town of Khost, 250 kilometers, south-east of Kabul. “We have a huge playground, a series of guest houses and even a small zoo.” Mujeeb explains in his native Pashto.

Inside the perimeter walls of the mansion is also a set of cricketing facilities that is known as the Noor Cricket Academy. It has been set up up by Mujeeb’s first cousin and current Afghanistan player, Noor Ali Zadran.

“I lost my father when I was very young, so I was raised by my mum’s brother side of the family in that house,” Mujeeb added.

Despite the cricketing facilities in his own yard, Mujeeb only discovered his love for the game after watching the Afghanistan national team at the 2012 T20 World Cup. After each game, he would pick up a tennis ball, flick it around in his fingers and then start playing the game with his neighbourhood kids.

“Gradually, I started going to the Noor academy. That is where I was started to play the game and started training. I must have been around 11-12 years of age. Then once I knew about the game, I went to the Khost Province Academy.”

Mujeeb’s obsession of flicking a tennis ball with his fingers led to him developing a passion for spin bowling. “I started playing a lot of cricket with the tennis ball on which we put a tape. By just bowling with it you realize that it becomes skiddy, so I started to flick it around in my fingers. Then I watched YouTube videos of Mendis to see how they grip the ball and flick it with middle finger.

“When I first started to bowl it, I would just flight it and not put power behind it. It would be like a flighted off-spinner, but slowly I practiced for countless hours and eventually I started to have power in my fingers, then I started to flick it with more power behind it.”

Khaleqdaad Noori, the Afghanistan U19 assistant coach, was present at one of the province camps and recalls a 15-year-old boy bamboozling the senior team members in a net session.

“In one of the camps he was bowling and I was umpiring. This was a practice game involving the national team and he got six of them out. They were struggling to judge his variations. It has to be god-gifted talent. He uses his angles well and has a lot of self-confidence.” Noori said.

Despite making an impact at the provincial camp, Mujeeb would be left out of the national U16 team. Disappointed, Mujeeb retreated back to his haveli for a family union and another game of cricket. It was during this family game that Mujeeb will learn about another delivery that he would also add to his armoury.

“I have a big family and all of them are in cricket, so one day I was batting against one of our family members and I saw him bowl a ball that looked like a leg-spinner, but it actually turned back into me.

“I asked him how did you do that? He explained to me how you flick it from back of the hand, so I learnt that delivery and started practicing in the nets along with my carom ball and off-spinner.”

Armed with a googly, a carom ball and a genuine off break, Mujeeb would create headlines across Afghanistan with some stunning performances in the U16 tournament and that would lead to him getting picked into the national U19 team.

Playing for the national U19 team at the Asia Cup last year, Mujeeb’s mystery spinners resulted in him being approached by a scout from an IPL team.

“That gave me a lot of confidence, and happiness, that I can go ahead and if I keep performing I may even get a chance to play in the IPL” he recalled.

At the tender age of 16, he made his debut for Afghanistan and picked up 4-24 against Ireland. A few days ago, he dismantled New Zealand’s top order in Christchurch with figures of 4-14 to lead his country into the semi-finals of the U19 World Cup.

The evening before the semi-final, he became only the third Afghanistan player to be signed by an IPL team for a barnstorming amount of INR 4 crores – an amount that even a guy who grew up in the comforts of a mansion can do with. Mujeeb has already created history in becoming the youngest player from Afghanistan to be picked in an IPL auction and along the way has also dismissed the theory that every player from his nation hails from plagued backgrounds.

Cricbuzz.com

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