Afghanistan wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad likes to play against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
After making his way into Afghanistan senior team, Ahmad joined forces with Rashid Khan in 2023-24 to rattle Mumbai Indians’. He scalped three wickets to reduce the Mumbai franchise to 152/9 in that season.
On Wednesday, Noor scalped four to break Mumbai Indians’ batting, and reduce them to 155/9. He was the pick of the bowlers against a struggling Mumbai franchise which never got the chance to build a strong partnership.
The Lakan Spinki Bori village native was shy in his formidable years. He hardly spoke to the coaches or trainees at the Afghanistan Cricket Board’s junior camp in Kabul, the sportstar reports.
A few years later, he was troubling the top Afghanistan batters, including their former captain Raeez Ahmadzai. He was convinced that the shy boy has a long way to go, if mentored correnctly.
And that is proving out to be correct.
“His bowling style has been totally unique. He was quicker than normal left-arm spinners, so after I spotted him, I was sure that if we could give him some confidence, he can be a unique bowler,” Ahmadzai said.
Not everyone had their bet on Ahmadzai to become a great spinner. “After being with me in the U-19 team, I picked him for the Shpageeza Cricket League about four years ago. Being the coach of the Mis-Ainak team, I was convinced about his talent,” Ahmadzai said.
He started to gain attention from the likes of Mohammad Nabi. “Nabi asked me, ‘who’s this boy?’ I told him that he is a talented spinner and that he should have a look at him in the nets. Nabi listened to me and watched him bowl and was really impressed. Thereon, he kept encouraging Noor and that paid off, as the youngster bowled well in the first game itself,” he said.
Since then, Ahmad has scalped 150 wickets in the shortest format, at an average of 22.60 with a five-wicket haul to his name.
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