Six-year boy makes debut in U-14 inter-school tournament

Mumbai: After elder brother Sarfaraz Khan hogged 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 on Tuesday

Aged six years and nine months, Musheer, a left-arm spinner who is studying in Anjuman-i-Islam Allana English school, made his debut today in the inter-school Giles Shield U-14 cricket tournament, which made him possibly the youngest player to play the 114-year-old tournament. Though it was not a great start for Musheer as he could score only three runs in 28 balls while opening the batting, and while bowling, he ended with a figure of 5-1-12-0. Musheer, however, can take heart from the fact that he could have got a couple of wickets, had the two catches were not dropped at slip and silly-point of 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 standard two student after his brief knock. The right-handed 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 U-19 player Sufiyan Sheikh, said he had high hopes from his younger son. "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 video camera he had bought yesterday for the 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 5 am and reaches the Azad Maidan ground at CST from his home in suburban Kurla by 6:30 am. After some practice, its time for his tuition from teacher Hitesh Doshi, whose 12-year-old son plays alongside Musheer, at the same ground. At 12 pm, Musheer goes to the nearby school and returns to the ground at 4 pm. He along with his father reaches home at around eight in the evening 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 5am 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 past the Ranji probables for Mumbai and also represented the Maharashtra U-19 team, hopes that his sons could 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. PTI