After elder brother Sarfaraz Khan hogged the limelight about two years ago by surpassing Sachin Tendulkar's score of 326 not out in the Harris Shield tournament at the age of 12, it was the turn of his younger brother Musheer Khan to get his share of attention.
Aged six years and nine months, Musheer, a left-arm spinner from Anjuman-i-Islam Allana English school, made his debut on Tuesday in the inter-school Giles Shield Under-14 cricket tournament, making him possibly the youngest player to play the 114-year-old tourney.
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It was not a great start though for Musheer, as he scored only three runs from 28 balls while opening the batting, and while bowling, ended up with a figures of 5-1-12-0.
Musheer, however, can take heart from the fact that he could have got a couple of wickets, had two catches not been dropped at slips and silly-point off his bowling.
"I was not ready to play, but the bowler was already in his stride. I thought it was an away going delivery so I tried to 'well-left' it but it came in instead. I tried to defend it but played on," said the class two student after his brief knock.
The right-hand batsman, who is pursuing the game because "he wants to be famous", idolises New Zealand spin great Daniel Vettori.
Talking to reporters, his father Naushad Khan, who has coached Mumbai players like Iqbal Abdullah, Kamraan Khan and India Under-19 player Sufiyan Sheikh, said he has high hopes of his younger son doing well.
"I have lot of hopes from him, as he is good in both bowling and batting. He has done well in some of the local tournaments. The school has trusted him, I'm grateful to them," added Naushad, while proudly displaying a new Sony video camera he purchased on Monday for video-analysis of his sons.
"He was very excited about this match and was a little disappointed after getting out early. He sat alone for some time but soon joined his teammates," Naushad added.
Recounting Musheer's daily routine, Naushad said the boy wakes up at five in the morning and reaches the Azad Maidan ground at CST from his home in suburban Kurla by 6:30 am.
After some practice, it's time for his tuition from teacher Hitesh Doshi, whose 12-year-old son plays alongside Musheer, at the same ground.
At 12 noon, Musheer goes to the nearby school and returns to the ground at four in the evening.
He and his father reach home at around eight and the entire family, following an advice from batting great Sunil Gavaskar, ensures that they hit the bed by nine.
"After Sarfaraz hit 438, Gavaskar met us during a function. On learning that the boys woke up at 5 am he advised us to sleep by 9 pm so that they were fresh for the next day's hard work," Naushad said.
Naushad, who had failed to make it past the Ranji probables for Mumbai and also represented the Maharashtra Under-19 team, hopes that his sons make it to the highest level.
"I had made a lot of mistakes during my playing days as I had no one to guide me. I don't want them to repeat these. Therefore, I'm ensuring that they get everything that I did not in my playing days," he said.
