Meet teen tweaker of Kolkata Knight Riders from Afghanistan who sent South Africa on a spin, picked up in IPL for…
South Africa didn’t know what hit them in the 1st ODI match against Afghanistan at the Sharjah cricket stadium on Wednesday. Hashmatullah Shahidi’s Afghanistan cricket team posted their first-ever ODI win over the Proteas after bundling them out for just 106.
The architects of the Afghan win were pacer Fazalhaq Farooqui and mystery spinner who is just 18 years of age named Allah Ghazanfar. The duo reduced SA to 36 for 7 in the first 10 overs of the game with Ghazanfar picking up three big wickets, including that of in-form batter Tristan Stubbs.
The teen spinner turned out for IPL 2024 champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and was bought for only Rs 20 lakh as replacement. Ghazanfar shot into the limelight in the ICC Under-19 World Cup this year, claiming eight wickets at an average of just 16.75. He was then signed up by KKR as replacement for Afghanistan teammate Mujeeb ur Rahman.
Ghazanfar was born in Paktia province of Afghanistan and started playing tennis ball cricket when he was young. He was signed up by MIS Ainak Knights, one of the 8 regional first-calss teams in Afghanistan.
Watch Afghanistan spinner Allah Ghazanfar pick up three wickets HERE…
Have Afghanistan found a new teenage prodigy?
18-year-old offie AM Ghazanfar broke the back of the South African middle order with a spectacular spell of 3/20 in Sharjah.#AFGvSAonFanCode pic.twitter.com/7LUmwRA21k
— FanCode (@FanCode) September 18, 2024
The youngster in a recent interview claimed that Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been his inspiration. “Ashwin has been a champion spinner for India, and I like his variations. I have always considered him my inspiration,” Ghazanfar was quoted as saying by Sportstar.
“I have played a fair bit of junior cricket, and my ultimate target is to play for Afghanistan. The IPL will help me improve my game as I would be able to learn quite a few things from the Indian and overseas players, and I am really looking forward to the experience. I hope to get picked by a franchise,” he had said.
In the first ODI, Ghazanfar dismissed Stubbs for duck, Kyle Verreynne for 10 and Jason Smith for duck for figures of 3/20 in 10 overs. The seven wickets lost by South Africa inside their first 10 overs was the first time they had lost as many inside the first 10. Their previous worst came when they lost their seventh wicket inside 13 overs against India in Johannesburg last year.
Ghazanfar has made the world sit up and take notice and will be a mouth-watering prospect in years to come for the Afghanistan side.