Afghanistan have made a habit of producing quality spinners in their short cricketing history so far with the rise of Rashid Khan being the prime example.
While Rashid continues to make waves in international and franchise cricket, another Afghan teenager in the form of Mujeeb ur Rahman has taken the cricketing world by storm since making his bow.
The 17-year-old prodigy had a highly successful maiden stint in the IPL with Kings XI Punjab this year where he picked up 14 wickets in 11 matches at an economy-rate of only 6.99 before an injury to his bowling hand saw him miss out in the final stages of the competition. Such was Mujeeb’s instant impact that even the likes of Virat Kohli struggled to pick up his subtle variations.
The youngster, however, has recovered just in time for Afghanistan’s maiden Test against India in Bengaluru and has already bowled two highly economical spells in the two T20Is against Bangladesh at Dehradun so far.
Unlike many in the Afghan side, Mujeeb comes from a family with a cricketing background after his uncle Noor Ali Zadran featured in the country’s debut ODI against Scotland in 2009.
“I used to bowl to my uncle from a very young age. And I bowled with a mindset that I was already playing at the international level. Right from the beginning, I got a chance to bowl to international players,” told the Times of India on the sidelines of the ongoing series against Bangladesh.
Mujeeb picked up 14 wickets in the IPL. Image – IPL/Twitter.
The youngster is already going places in T20 cricket after his maiden IPL stint and will turn up for Hampshire in the T20 Blast. When asked how he communicated with his new international stars, Mujeeb said that cricket was his language of communication.
“Cricket is my language. I bank on my cricketing knowledge. I understand what is being told to me, the language doesn’t matter. I understand cricketing stuff,” he stated.
One of the more unconventional spinners going around in cricket currently, the teenager also revealed the spinners whom he had grown up watching as a young child.
“I watched Ajantha Mendis, Sunil Narine and Ravichandran Ashwin bowling different type of balls. That fascinated me. I kept watching the videos and grew with it,” Mujeeb stated.