Musheer Khan, A Star To Watch Out For

While the focus was firmly on India's Test hopefuls, a young batting star stole the headlines with his gritty century, on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy.

On a day when his elder brother Sarfaraz Khan failed, 19-year-old Musheer Khan starred with the bat with a splendid innings of 105 not out from 227 balls to rescue India B against India A at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru, on Thursday, September 5, 2024.

Rishabh Pant didn't have a good return to red ball cricket as he perished for nine, caught at mid-off looking to hit pacer Akash Deep over the top.

Yashasvi Jaiswal stroked 30 with six fours, before he cut Khaleel Ahmed straight to the fielder at point, while Sarfaraz was trapped leg before wicket by Avesh Khan for nine.

Sent in at the crucial No. 3 position, Musheer showed great responsibility and determination to hold one end up as wickets kept falling regularly from the other.

When Pant was dismissed, India B were reduced to 80/4 before they collapsed further to slip to 94/7 when R Sai Kishore was dismissed by Khaleel.

Musheer built together a crucial unbroken eighth wicket stand of 108 runs with No. 9 Navdeep Saini, who displayed some stubborn defiance with an important innings of 29 not out.

All-rounder Musheer, already hailed as a rising star of Mumbai cricket, continues to build his reputation as he keeps coming up with top performances at every level.

Last year, he was India's top performer at the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa, scoring 360 runs in seven games on tough pitches with two centuries and a fifty, while he also bagged seven wickets at an economy rate of 3.63.

Fast-tracked into the Mumbai team after the Under-19 World Cup, the youngster then showed his pedigree in Ranji Trophy. He scored his maiden century -- a double hundred -- in only his fourth Ranji match to rescue Mumbai in the quarter-final against Baroda after the top order had collapsed.

He then followed it up with a match-winning century against Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy final, scoring 138 to power Mumbai to the title.

Incidentally, courtesy of that century Musheer broke the legendary Sachin Tendulkar's record to become the youngest Mumbai batter to score a century in the final of the Ranji Trophy. Tendulkar had scored centuries in each innings against Punjab in the 1994-1995 Ranji Trophy final.

Born in a cricket-passionate family, Musheer had been living under Sarfaraz's shadow ever since he made his debut in Mumbai's Kanga League cricket at just eight years old in 2013 -- the youngest ever to debut in the club tournament.

The Kanga League, which started in 1948, is a club tournament which is held during the monsoon season from July to October and features cricketers of all ages.

Not only did Musheer make his debut at such a young age, he made an immediate impact by becoming the youngest to take five wickets in the tournament's 65-year-old history. He picked up 25 wickets from six matches in the Kanga League and was named the bowler of the tournament.

Even in school cricket, Musheer had been making waves. In 2011, Musheer, aged six, played for his school, Anjuman-I-Islam Allana English school, in the Giles Shield Under-14 tournament. He was the youngest to feature in the tournament, and claimed a six-wicket haul to lift his team to a big victory, against Shailendra Education Society, which was bowled out for a mere 28 in their second innings.

He also did well for Mumbai in the 2022 Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy where he scored 632 runs in the tournament along with claiming 32 wickets, which saw him get picked for the Ranji Trophy a few months later.

In the Under-25 CK Nayudu Trophy in January last year, Musheer gave further proof of his immense potential with an incredible knock of 339 off 367 balls against Hyderabad.

In the Under-19 Challenger Trophy One-Day tournament in Guwahati, the Mumbai right-hander scored 139 runs and picked up 3/35 to power India B to the title in the final against India A.

He had also played a key role in helping India win the Under-19 quadrangular tournament, also involving Australia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, in Vishakapatnam. He slammed 67 from 58 balls and took two wickets for nine runs as India beat South Africa by 201 runs in the final in November.

The Mumbai youngster was seventh in the list of highest run-getters in the tournament, with a tally of 243 runs, at an average of 81, and a best score of 101 (66 balls) which came against South Africa in the round-robin stage.

Amid all of his achievements growing up, one proud memory will always stay with him. As an eight year old, he got Yuvraj Singh's prize wicket, stumped. during an exhibition match in Delhi in 2013.

Yuvraj came up to him after the match and told him it was 'a good delivery' and gave him an autographed ball, with the words: 'That was an awesome ball, Musheer'!

The great Bishen Singh Bedi, who worked with the boy in Mumbai, was left in awe by the young spinner's ability to flight the ball.

"Bedi Sir told me 'this boy has god's gift of giving the ball flight. Don't tamper with his bowling action or anything else. Just let him develop naturally and don't try to change too many things by taking him to a lot of coaches. He is definitely special'," Naushad had told Rediff.com in 2013, about Musheer's training session with the legendary spinner at Mumbai's Khar Gymkhana.

Naushad has dedicated nearly all his life to training his two sons to be cricketers, ensuring that no stone was left unturned in the endeavour. He implemented a strict training and practice regime for them right from an early age, even during their school hours.

"Musheer wakes up at 5 am and we go to Azad Maidan for practice -- from our residence [in Kurla, north Mumbai] -- which starts by 6.30. After a few hours of practice he comes back for tuitions, from 10 am to 12.30, before he goes to school. After his school, he again practices for a couple of hours before he rests in the evening and does some more studies; he sleeps around 9 or 10," says Naushad.

With Sarfaraz already breaking into the Test team and Musheer looking like he could join him in the years to come, it would be a life changing moment for Naushad to see his sons bat together for India.

But the humble Naushad likes to keep his feet grounded and stay in the present, like he always been.

"It feels very good when your children start repaying the hard work you have put in them; but this is just the start," he had said.

"We want to achieve a lot of things. So we will keep working hard and never let fame or success impact us."