A journey from Gurgaon to stardom
I call Shahbaz an all-round package, says fascinated Bengal coach Arun Lal
He is an extremely positive cricketer and you will never hear him complaining about things like wicket or umpiring.” Arun Lal » Former Indian opener
When Virat Kohli shows enough faith on an unheralded all-rounder from Bengal to come in at No 3 for Royal Challengers Bangalore, or hands over the ball to him in the 17th over in desperation for a breakthrough, it’s safe to assume that the Indian captain may have seen possibilities in him. Shahbaz Ahmed, the 26-year-old, did not disappoint the captain by wreaking havoc with the top order of Sunrisers Hyderabad in a magical over to turn the match on its head.
And suddenly, Shahbaz has become yet another case study of the Indian Premier League. His story is very much akin to that of Mohammad Shami. Shahbaz hails from a little heard suburban town of Mewat — about 100 kilometres from Gurgaon — who drifted to club cricket of Kolkata in search of a career.
‘‘To me, Shahbaz is an allround package. Mind you, he still plays his club cricket in one of the smaller clubs Tapan Memorial where he picks up fifers every other day and keep scoring the runs. He is an extremely positive cricketer and you will never hear him complaining about things like wicket or umpiring,’’ Arun Lal, former Indian opening batsman and head coach of Bengal, told Gulf News.
When Bengal finished as runners-up in Ranji Trophy
in the 2019-20 season before Covid-19 struck, Ahmed had a wonderful season for the often underachieving state by scoring 509 runs at No 7 position, often when the team had their backs to the wall, and claiming 35 wickets at an average of 16.80 with his left-am spin.
Top honours
“I was wondering when the BCCI would announce the award for the best performers of the domestic season as he would certainly be in the running for the best all-rounder’s honours,’’ said Lal.
Chasing a modest target of 149 set by the RCB on Wednesday, Sunrisers were cruising till Ahmed came to bowl his second over, the 17th of the innings. Six balls later, he had removed dismissed the dangerous Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey and Abdul Samad.
‘‘I think positive. Whatever will happen, will happen for good,’’ Shahbaz had said in an interview sometime back. The power of positive thinking seems to have started to yield the dividends from him.