“Promise me Naseem Shah, you will be a super star!”
“Promise me Naseem Shah, you will be a super star!”: Before leaving for the Asia Cup, Naseem Shah vowed to his coach Sulieman Qadir, son of Abdul Qadir, that he would become a household name in Pakistan cricket.
If he performs well over the next six months, Sulieman assured him, he can become a superstar like Shaheen Afridi.
It was expected that his celebrity would increase as he became more proficient with the ball, and it did after he rattled India in their first game, but on Wednesday night, he hammered two sixes that he would never forget.
The fans from Pakistan wouldn’t either. Or those who are enthusiastic about Afghanistan. …or the Indians, who had their aspirations dashed.
Until the very end, Pakistan was in the driving seat. And then, when Afghanistan had the upper hand for the first time, Naseem Shah went up and smacked two sixes that nobody will ever forget.
Azam
They were, admittedly, thrown as full tosses from Fazalhaq Farooqui’s palm. A superstar bowler up until that point, Farooqui had trapped Babar Azam in the opening over and returned to stem the flow of runs and pick-up wickets as Afghanistan clawed it’s way back into the game.
But at the crucial moment, he was unable to respond to history’s call. Pressure. Cold hands. Plus, overhand throws. However, not every hitter, particularly those lower in the lineup, can hit them for sixes in a row.
In contrast, Naseem Shah knocked them both out and took off running frantically in the opposite direction. The adrenaline was still pumping when his teammates finally got up to him. It took a long time and a lot of hugs to calm him down after he yanked the helmet off his head and hurled it down.
After tearing through Pakistan with a seven-wicket haul in a U-19 match at Gaddafi stadium in Lahore eight years ago, Fareed Ahmed exploded in the public’s imagination back in his native country.
Today, he permanently etched himself into their minds by taking two wickets, including Asif Ali’s brilliant finisher. Even though Fareed and Asif Ali lost, their match would be remembered for a long time through gifs, conversations, and memes.
As a response to being struck for six, he bowled a slower bouncer, which Asif top-edged to a short fine-leg.
As Asif yelled and pumped his fist, he found himself directly in his path. Asif stood and stared, clearly unhappy by the bowler’s closeness and the fact that they were celebrating in front of him.
Fareed remained unmoved. To which he merely returned her gaze. Asif pushed him away, but Fareed didn’t look away. Asif then pretended to strike by raising his bat, evoking images of Javed Miandad and Dennis Lillee and being potentially even more deadly. The Afghan players swooped in and diffused the situation.
Shadab Khan vs Najibullah Zadran – Part 2
When Najibullah Zadran smashed legspinner Shadab Khan for a six over square leg, the scene must have brought back memories for Afghanistan fans, especially those of Zadran. Almost like watching an action reenactment of the previous T20 World Cup. A six was hit off a full googly on the leg stump line. You can see the similarities when you compare it to the present day.
However, Shadab was armed with some nifty moves, probably helped along by his photographic recall. He snuck a googly between the off and middle line, and Zadran poked it to the keeper at that time.
He made another attempt at the ball, this time nearly scoring on Mohammad Rizwan in goal, but the ball narrowly missed the post.
He immediately stepped up the frequency of his googlies and leg fractures, and Zadran’s problems persisted. The tempo would increase, fluctuating between the eighties and the nineties. The over culminated with a full ball traveling 111 kilometers per hour, which Zadran was able to hole out to long-on from. Shadab stretched his arms skyward and gazed beyond. Dubai-style déjà vu.
From picking fruit as a child to saving up for a bat to launching two sensational sixes against Pakistan as a professional cricketer, his life story is nothing short of inspirational.
Afghanistan’s prodigious batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz only got two beautiful shots before being run out.
Hasnain Mohammad threw a quick, short ball, but Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit it with diabolical speed, and it sailed over long-leg. Quite the beautiful yank indeed. The following delivery was fuller and was returned from the deep square-leg boundary with a simple wrist flick. In an uncommon swipe across the line, Haris Rauf would shortly bow out.
Gurbaz
In elementary school, Rahmanullah Gurbaz fell in love with cricket but didn’t find his parents particularly encouraging of his interest. Since he wasn’t going to be getting any financial help from his parents, he had to find another way to acquire the funds necessary to purchase a cricket bat and other necessary gear. Consequently, he made a plan.
His parents were in the process of building a home, so Rahmanullah went to negotiate a daily wage with the contractor working on the project.
He may be heard saying, “So I worked for 16-17 days,” in a video posted by the Afghanistan Cricket Board. He would accompany his father to a school in the mornings before sneaking out and racing back to the house to get to work. He was able to buy what he needed with that sum of money.
His loved ones were understandably distraught when they discovered his deceit, but it was then that he finally won them over by talking about how much he enjoyed the game.