From throwing rocks down mountains and training by swimming across rivers and streams in Pakistan’s troubled northwest, unheralded pace bowler Sohail Khan has come a long way.
The 30-year-old was a surprise inclusion in Pakistan’s 15-man squad for the World Cup as he was not considered amongst the favorites until the morning of the announcement.
However, former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif described Khan as “gatecrashing” his way into contention after a string of impressive performances in domestic cricket.
“He has gatecrashed into the World Cup squad,” said Latif, who is credited by many for grooming the raw talent of Khan in his domestic team, Port Qasim.
“His recent performances forced the selectors to give him a chance and I am confident he will make his mark in the World Cup,” he said.
Khan took 64 wickets in Pakistan’s domestic season last year and got ten wickets in a one-day event — an impressive show, which forced him into the World Cup squad at the expense of unfit Umar Gul.
However, it has not been an easy ride for the well-built Khan.
As a youngster, dreaming of making a name for himself, Khan used to throw stones down the hills in Malakand — the mountainous tribal area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province — to build muscle to bowl fast.
Deprived of basic cricket facilities, Khan initially played with a tennis ball.
“I grew up with a desire to make my name in cricket,” Khan said. “We did not have any facility to play the game, like a ground or a gym, so someone told me that if I throw stones over a distance I could build my muscle to bowl fast.”
Routine swims in the streams and rivers in the tribal area helped further develop his body.
A relative told Khan to try his luck in Karachi where he was spotted in a talent hunt program before he landed in the safe hands of Latif who honed the tribal talent in his academy.
“I owe a great deal to Latif,” Khan said. “He told me how to use the new ball and how to use different tricks as a fast bowler. What I am today is because of him.”
Playing for Sui Southern Gas Corporation, Khan took an astonishing 65 wickets in his debut first-class season in 2007, with eight five-wicket hauls.
If that was not enough, he recorded the best match figures in a first-class game in Pakistan with 16-189, which broke the long-standing record of Fazal Mahmood who once took 15-76.
That was enough to give Khan a place in the national team in the one-day international series against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh at home in 2008.
A return of four wickets in three matches was not enough to cement his place and over the next three years he managed to play three more one-day mateches, two Tests and three Twenty20s, the last in Zimbabwe in 2011.
It seemed he would be lost to the game, but Khan’s hard work finally paid off.
“I never got disheartened,” Khan said. “I am now in the World Cup and want to make an impression ... I want to bowl fast and take wickets for my team.”
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS