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Follow UsWhat is the least you can do when the chairman of selectors and the BCCI CEO are watching you from just a 70-meter distance? Possibly scoring a nonchalant century on a wicket where runs are coming at a premium.
While most of the India prospects dunked it with impatience, one boy stood tall.
The curtain raiser of the Duleep Trophy 2024 in Bengaluru began with a domineering spell of pace bowling from Akash Deep and Khaleel Ahmed for India A, but only to see it end with Musheer Khan, the younger protege from the Naushad Khan household, scoring a masterful century to skew the deal in his favour.
It might not be enough for Musheer, who is just six first-class matches old, to be in the reckoning for the national team so early, but the Mumbaikar's resourcefulness at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on September 5 (Thursday) should be enough for the selectors to give him more India A opportunities in the near future.
All 19 years old, he is a combination of technical shrewdness and an uncanny presence of mind, which is not too common for his age. You would think it was just cricketing nous, but where most of India B batters succumbed to impatience caused by wind flowing in the opposite direction, Musheer was regularly stepping down the track to catch the bowlers from length. That he mostly managed to keep lbw at bay talks about his street smartness.
Should that excite the selectors? Definitely, but they would be well served with some restraint here.
India already have a packed middle-order following the return of Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul for the forthcoming Test series against Bangladesh - which even puts his brother Sarfaraz Khan’s spot in the doldrums. There is a Devdutt Padikkal and a Dhruv Jurel, who, despite impressive performances, may be on their way out. Then how does Musheer’s singular journey to frustrate Shubman Gill’s side stand in the larger scheme of things?
Perhaps we don’t have to worry about that now. Not all prodigies need to be promoted to the national team so quickly. The cautionary tale that Prithvi Shaw’s journey has left behind can’t be ignored; hence, for Musheer to grow, he has to follow the grind. It’s the inevitable part to succeed in red-ball cricket.
He doesn’t need to look any further than his brother Sarfaraz Khan. A tall run-maker in domestic cricket, Sarfaraz was a red-ball version of Suryakumar Yadav, who, despite piling on T20 runs, had to wait till 2021 to make his India debut. And once he did, there was no stopping by.
Sarfaraz also latched on to the opportunities with both hands earlier this year, scoring three half-centuries in his first six Test innings. Stretching the comparison for Musheer, who is nine years younger than Sarfaraz, would be timid, but then, we live in an era of social media, where pressure is the ultimate thing a youngster has to battle with.
Staying on course with that, Musheer did everything right on Day 1 to leave India B in a respectable position. The structure of the Duleep Trophy doesn’t allow the players to look beyond personal gains, but never for a moment did it seem like the Mumbaikar trying anything extravagant. This maturity should help him go a long way in his career.
“I have always loved being out there, be it batting or bowling; there’s nothing that I don’t like about this sport,” Musheer told Cricket.com last year.
“I don’t think much about the future. That’s another thing Abbu has instilled in us. We are all about the process. But yes, if the opportunity comes along, I would grab it. But even if I don’t get it, it wouldn’t affect my batting or bowling. Playing for India has always been our dream. That’s my ultimate dream.”
And boy! Did he stick to his words today?
The process has found the right stage, and it is up to him, as well as his father and brother, to keep him perceptive. On a day when the elder Khan struggled to push the button against even Shivam Dube — a rare day of struggle in Indian domestic cricket — Musheer ensured it was not really gloomy in their household.
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