Take a peek into the life of one of Pakistan’s most exciting fast bowlers

Shashank Kishore03-Sep-2022There is a boisterous energy Naseem Shah brings to everything he does on the cricket field. And he makes things happen. If his fiery lifters to Virat Kohli elicited a raised brow and a nod from the batter, his late seam movement back into KL Rahul to clang into his stumps triggered an Imran Tahir-like sprint of celebration. Even his handshake comes off with a sideways high-five vibe. It’s all or nothing.When Naseem is running in, everyone must stop what they are doing and watch. At training, and at press boxes. Even in the dining room, people put down their spoons and forks and watch him. On Sunday, he bowled Rahul first ball, and then welcomed Kohli with a sharp bouncer and a smile. Everyone’s eyes were on him. Even the private security guards whose job it is to survey the crowed for signs of trouble couldn’t help but steal a glance.Yet, for all that aggression, there’s a boyish charm to Naseem, in the way he just seems to enjoy everything about the game. Bowling is what he loves, though. Even at the end of a long two-hour session, if he still has the ball in hand, you know batters are going to be challenged, if not cop blows. It doesn’t even matter that they are all his team-mates.Related

• 'This reminded me of Javed Miandad's six' – Babar Azam

• Nawaz thrives on 'positive pressure' to continue giving Pakistan the all-round edge

• Wit and wisdom at Rahul Dravid's Saturday laughter club – snapshots from a press conference

• Dravid: No workload management before T20 World Cup, only best XIs will play

• Unbeaten India slight favourites in Round 2 against Pakistan

Naseem plays with a smile; angry barbs aren’t his way. If you know his story, just 19 years’ worth, you would know why playing cricket means so much to him. He has seen poverty knock on his door. He has had to deal with the loss of a parent – his mother. He’s experienced challenges every step of the way. It has all been in search of a dream. A dream that may have once seemed as far from becoming a reality as his hometown in the Lower Dir in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is to Karachi or Islamabad. But not anymore.Naseem has overcome setbacks on the field too. Some serious, like multiple stress fractures on his back that has had him spend more time on hospital beds, looking at PET scans and reports, than the nets or at the ground. And others not quite so frightening, but worrying all the same, like his shoulder troubles earlier this year.In between, he has roughed up batting line-ups with swing, seam and raw pace. He is the youngest bowler ever to pick up a Test hat-trick. He has played in England, West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and is now in the UAE for the Asia Cup. In a month’s time, he is likely to be on the flight to Australia, the country of his Test debut, for his maiden [T20] World Cup.Not bad, you’d think, for someone who didn’t have a pair of spikes till four years ago. He didn’t know what a leather ball was or what seam position meant. All he knew was bowling fast. No compromises.A 16-year old Naseem Shah takes off after picking up a Test hat-trick against Bangladesh in February 2020•Associated PressMudassar Nazar, the former Pakistan allrounder, remembers watching Naseem in his debut season, in 2018, and being spellbound. Mudassar was director of academies at the PCB and was in charge of honing the skills of young cricketers who had been handpicked to be part of the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.”In his maiden first-class season, I remember a game where Naseem was bowling to a tailender, a No. 11, I presume,” Mudassar recalled in a chat with ESPNcricinfo. “You could see the guy was scared of Naseem. He kept exposing all three stumps, it was basically an open invitation for Naseem to clean him up. But he kept bowling short, bowling bouncers at him. He was so aggressive that he wanted to knock him out. We had to sit him down and tell him this is not how you bowl; the prime objective is to get people out.”The NCA in Lahore shares a wall with the Abdul Qadir Academy, where Naseem began his formal training at 15. He had just moved into his uncle’s house in the city, from where he would cycle long distances to reach the academy. On his first day there, he was handed an old ball. Two overs later, Naseem made a beeline for the new ball, and he wasn’t to be denied. Clearly, he was special. Saud Khan, a man with an eye for talent and one of the coaches at the academy, was Naseem’s first instructor, and Sulaman Qadir, one of Abdul Qadir’s sons, his mentor.For six months, Naseem’s routine was something like this: cycle to training, bowl for four hours, cycle home, grab some food, then go back and do it all over again in the evening. It wasn’t for everyone. But for Naseem, it was all he wanted to do. Once word about him spread, he was immediately drafted into one of several age-group camps at the PCB Academy.This period coincided with Mudassar’s return to Pakistan from Dubai, where he had been in charge as head of cricket development at the ICC Academy. Mudassar, a veteran of 76 Tests and 122 ODIs, had been at the forefront of the academy’s development since its launch in 2009, but couldn’t refuse an offer when then PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan came calling.Naseem Shah got his first Pakistan cap from Waqar Younis in November 2019•Getty ImagesMudassar’s first task was to identify a pool of players at the Under-16 level to take part in PCB’s exchange programme with Cricket Australia in early 2017. Sure enough, Naseem figured in that list. It was Mudassar’s first proper sighting of the fast bowler, long before he played that first-class game where he roughed up tailenders with bouncers.”My first impression was the guy can bowl sharp, and that he was quick, but can get quicker,” Mudassar said. He continued after a long pause: “But he had a terrible bowling action that was putting a lot of strain on his back. Much of it came about because of non-stop cricket. He’d bowl at the NCA, then hop over to the academy next door and bowl there. And this took a toll on him without him realising it.”Towards the end of 2017, Naseem had his first stress fracture and it needed six-seven months of rehab. “He dealt with the news of his injury better than me, or better than many other kids would,” Mudassar said. “But that desperation to play was there. It was a stressful time, but he was so composed. Every morning, he’d come and say, ‘sir, ‘ [I want to play]. Our challenge as coaches was to control hm and tell him he needed to look after himself.”Mudassar has undertaken several courses about biomechanics and injury management over the years. His ability to explain a complex issue in layperson’s terms helps put things into perspective.”Naseem’s action is side-on, and his front arm kept falling away from his body instead of going across his body,” Mudassar said. “That would take the head position with it, and all his energy, instead of going straight down the pitch, would be going towards gully. This put immense stress on his back.”He would be so fond of bowling that you couldn’t keep him still. You have to do a certain number of repetitions to get a message from your brain to form your muscle memory. But because young players are so fond of playing, it’s easy to go back to old habits. We had to control Naseem for six months. And inch by inch, we worked on bringing his front arm across. Only once we were fully satisfied, he was able to do that, we let him play.”Mudassar Nazar played 76 Tests and 122 ODIs for Pakistan•Getty ImagesWithin two months of getting fit, Naseem was playing for Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited in a Quaid-e-Azam Trophy game against Lahore Blues. Less than a year later, he was in Australia, making his Test debut. He was that good. He didn’t need to play Under-19 or ‘A’ team cricket. It was straight into the senior team.”The boy simply wanted to knock batters out with his aggression and pace, the main thing was to get him to understand how to bowl to every batter, how to bowl on different kinds of pitches and how to get people out,” Mudassar said. “He slowly started to play more matches. Which is why he was also in the scheme of things for the Under-19 World Cup in 2020. But you knew he was way ahead of his mates at that level.”Naseem made his Test debut in Brisbane, a week after he had received the news of his mother’s death. The fastest flight home was going to take 48 hours. He chose to stay on.Since his debut, Naseem has become a regular member of the Pakistan line-up, and although he only made his T20I debut a couple of days ago, he looks a shoo-in for the T20 World Cup squad. Especially now that it is clear he was only suffering from cramps when he went down, screaming in pain and clutching his leg, in the India game earlier this week.But, for all his gifts – his pace, his swing, his aggression – there are still things Naseem can get better at. “I don’t see him using the crease yet,” Mudassar said. “But as he bowls more, he’ll pick up the finer aspects. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he stays fit. This boy, like his second name, Shah – which means emperor in Urdu – will rule the world.”

The contrasting styles led to a switch between looking at the past enduring into the present and the future happening right in front of it

Vithushan Ehantharajah24-Feb-2023It looked like Joe Root wouldn’t make it. The rains had arrived to fill the Basin at around 4.50pm, the winds blowing across his eyeline as he lined up the leg side for the two runs needed for three figures. Three attempts were shut down by fielders in close. With a ball to go in the over, Root charged, meeting Neil Wagner on the full, eventually puncturing the on side.The celebration came instantly, even though Root had to take a loop around Wagner to make it back for the second. Before he had even finished embracing the acclaim from the grass banks, the umpires were pulling the stumps out of the ground and beckoning the covers on. Off they all went, not to return for the day.Alongside him was Harry Brook with 184* of his own from 169 deliveries – 13 fewer than what Root faced for century number 29. A double-hundred (plus tax) that was on the cards for Brook before the end of play was over. That he didn’t get there was probably no bad thing. A fourth hundred in six innings, the first player to pass 800 runs in his first nine innings outright, a new career-best – you can have too many accomplishments, you know. Then again, he didn’t celebrate much at all today, a cursory removal of the helmet and raising of the arms after he late cut Daryl Mitchell in the middle session. “He [Root] was actually more excited for me than I was getting a hundred,” Brook, like a child embarrassed by a parent, said afterwards.Related

• Root's mantra: To be 'consistently useful' within evolving England set-up

• 'I'm not, as you'd say, Bazball' admits Foakes as Bairstow's return looms large

• Henry set to play with New Zealand seeking answers against buoyant England

• Believe the hype: Harry Brook is heading where few have gone before

• Harry Brook's latest exploits hand England control after stuttering start

Ultimately, it was the differences between two of Yorkshire’s favourite sons that allowed England to emerge from the morning’s assault by New Zealand’s quicks to surge into a remarkable position.The only thing in common before they set about their currently unbeaten stand of 294 was the score of 21 when they arrived at the crease. Root had faced just one delivery by the time Brook arrived at the fall of the third wicket. The common goal was to rebuild, but they had very different ideas of how to go about this escape. Root opted for the Shawshank approach, spooning through the walls while Brook went straight for the sledgehammer. When Root brought up 100 balls, he had scored just 36 with the sole boundary. Brook, at the same stage of his innings, had 96 by virtue of 15 boundaries – two of which were monster sixes down the ground off Mitchell.It was the treatment of Mitchell that was perhaps an example of how they tag-teamed the recovery. Root only scored 12 off 23 from Mitchell, who was brought on as the first-change bowler, opting to tee his partner up to land the more telling blows. Brook delivered, in style: three fours and four sixes contained within 31 deliveries reaping 49.Scoring areas were varied: Root primarily leg side, particularly through square leg and midwicket; Brook pretty much everywhere, but largely down the ground and through extra cover, with 101 coming in those regions. The most bombastic of those were when stepping away and slap-shooting Wagner back over his head. Such was the ease of execution from the 24-year-old Brook that Tim Southee ended up stationing Kane Williamson beyond Wagner’s shoulder.

While the situation put in front of Root narrowed his focus, it was the work of Brook at the other end that enabled him, enough that he brought out his patented reverse scoop to move to 92, barely a week on from when it brought about his downfall in the previous Test

The duo adopted unique guards to mess with the bowling attack. The early success of Matt Henry and Southee came through a length that targeted the top of off stump and then let whatever green from that area of the pitch that wanted to come to the party do its thing. Rotating the strike was one way to ensure the bowlers could not get into a groove, but Root and Brook took it a step further.”There was a period in the middle where he was batting near the five-foot line and I was batting right back on my stumps,” Brook revealed at stumps. “And obviously as a bowler you can’t really see that when you’re running in so that was probably quite tricky for them to bowl at.”Much like seamers varying their positions on the crease, both batters made constant little shifts here and there to instil bits of doubt in the minds of an attack. An attack that was dangerously close to being run ragged before the weather intervened, leaving them with a lot of soul-searching to do before Saturday.But beyond the technical aspects, there was a real soul to this Root-Brook stand. It was the cricketing equivalent of a Rorschach test: depending on which of them was on strike, you were either looking at the past enduring into the present or the future happening right in front of you.Brook went straight for the sledgehammer as he produced a familiar attacking innings•Getty ImagesEven Brook’s words speak of an emotive stand that began in the seventh over and carries over into the weekend: “I’ve always enjoyed watching Rooty bat and probably enjoy batting with him more than I enjoy watching him.” And to go back to the reaction to the centuries, there was a sense of roles being reversed.Root needed his century more than Brook needed his. Earlier in the week, the former captain spoke honestly (perhaps too honestly) about his struggle to find his rhythm in this line-up. The compulsion to push the game into fast-forward was affecting previously immaculate decision-making. And while the situation put in front of Root narrowed his focus, it was the work of Brook at the other end that enabled him. He brought out his patented reverse scoop to move to 92, barely a week on from when it brought about his downfall in the first innings of the previous Test in Mount Maunganui.Having reasoned the early strong form under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes was due to him giving up the captaincy, Root’s first century since July 2022 marks the beginning of a new chapter. That it was Brook at the other end, a player Root had previously failed to keep up with, was all the better and added to the fascination with this England team at the moment; particularly that one of these two is starting to fit in, and the one who really gets it has only just arrived.

History says England have the series in the bag, but Pakistan’s exceptions remain their rule

Danyal Rasool11-Dec-2022The morning session oscillated delicately between overwhelming English control and the gentlest whiff of a Pakistani opportunity; the dance redolent of a first date where one side is keen to pull away out of sight, even as the other desperately clings on. England were so sure they were steering clear, though, they didn’t quite clock Pakistan’s power to hang on and drag the dalliance out by at least one more day.Pakistan’s first-innings implosion on Saturday might have seemed tactically baffling. But the pay-off came today as England, lulled into what might still turn out to be a true sense of security, gave away their last five wickets with the profligacy of a billionaire frittering away their fortune on a social media company. It still left Pakistan needing their second-highest fourth-innings chase to level the series, a feat that, even for a city as steeped in the folklore of yesteryear as Multan, would be historic.But Pakistan draw their belief not from the blind faith they place in their collective process, à la England, but from the occasional jarring exceptions to the general trend of their Test batting decline. There might be collapses aplenty straddling more than just this generation of Pakistan’s Test cricket, but like the occasional brilliant flashes of light from a flame that’s invariably going out, Pakistan’s batting can occasionally sparkle with a luminescence that is no longer characteristic of it.Since the start of 2014, no other side in the world has chased down totals in excess of 300 as frequently as Pakistan. Just this year, one vintage one for spectacular batting implosions, Pakistan ran down 342 in Galle, and amassed 443 for 7 in Karachi against an Australian attack that had rolled them for 148 48 hours earlier.Mohammad Rizwan opened the batting alongside Abdullah Shafique after Imam-ul-Haq had been sent for an MRI scan on a dodgy hamstring, and injected the sort of gentle intent that has seen him earn both praise and criticism in the shortest format. Joe Root was dispatched for ten in his first over, Shafique looked particularly comfortable, and as lunch arrived, Pakistan were well placed having scored 64 undefeated runs.Lunch at the Multan Cricket Stadium strikes a steady balance between bland mediocrity and mediocre blandness, but even a Michelin Star chef would have struggled to leave English fans salivating quite as much as the visitors’ newish-ball spell after the interval. With James Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood each producing their best deliveries of the series, Saud Shakeel and Imam found themselves in a scrap to take the game beyond the weekend.Both men have plenty to prove in this format, but Shakeel appreciates that point more than Imam. He had travelled with this Test side from time to time before making his debut in Pindi, but Zahid Mahmood’s experience would tell him that earning a reward for patience is no guarantee of success.Related

Jack Leach takes the risks, earns the rewards in embodiment of England's new world

Pakistan, and the curious case of collapsing on flat tracks

England seek to sweep away the mystery

Abrar: come for the mystery, stay for the legspin

Duckett: 'No real mystery' to Abrar's spin

He saw off a barrage from England’s fire-breathing quicks post-lunch, never once worrying about a strike-rate that was likelier to dip into single figures than rise into three. That temperament demonstrated why Shakeel has the highest control percentage against seam bowling among all Pakistan batters; of the 222 seam deliveries he has faced, he has been in control of 93.24%, edging out his captain Babar Azam at 93.04%.In the era of Brendon McCullum’s England, who sometimes feel as if they’ve reinvented Test cricket since the summer, it’s easy to get carried away, and believe you can fly even if you do not have a magic carpet. The mood even caught PCB chairman Ramiz Raja on Saturday, as he told Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton he wanted Pakistan to select T20 players in the Test side to replicate what England were doing.Saud is not a T20 player. He certainly does not have a magic carpet. But he possesses the maturity to recognise the futility of chasing after toys he cannot afford, and has learned not to lust after them either. In his first 33 balls, he had scored five runs. In his four innings for Pakistan so far, he hasn’t once managed a strike-rate in excess of 60. Juxtaposed against England’s modern, flashy shotmaking, he feels like a typewriter in the age of the smartphone, and just as exciting.But he averages in excess of 66 in the fourth innings across his first-class career, and with two days left in this match, it matters little how quickly those runs come. Across this series, no Pakistan player has negotiated pace better. He’s unbeaten on 54 off 123 overnight, but that’s exactly what he is: unbeaten. Imam might have contributed more runs, and scored them at a greater clip, but a flash at dusk outside off means he won’t be worrying England anymore.Shakeel was called up to make his ODI debut against South Africa in 2021, shortly before being ruled out of the tour with a quad injury, so he’ll be well aware of the limited value of a good day in an otherwise rough week. And even when the Sunday Multan crowd – the biggest of the Test by far – witnessed Pakistan enjoy their best day of the series, they would walk away fully aware the bulk of Pakistan’s work still lay ahead of them.Even so, England have been dragged back for another date, the prospect of nothing to separate the two sides as they fly together onto Karachi very much real. The visitors may yet feel they’re well placed to escape Pakistan’s clutches, but Shakeel’s grit, and the contradictory weirdness innate in Pakistan’s batting record this year, ensures there’ll be plenty of butterflies in English stomachs overnight.

History for Bangladesh but Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott will move on quickly from 3-0 loss

Matt Roller14-Mar-2023As Hasan Mahmud’s full toss scudded into Chris Woakes’ front pad to seal Bangladesh’s whitewash-clinching 16-run victory in Mirpur, it marked the end of a long and winding English winter. Exactly six months prior, the first squad of the offseason boarded their plane to Karachi via Dubai for the first of six tours; on Wednesday, the last men standing will return home from Dhaka.Little wonder, then, that England’s performance in Tuesday night’s dead-rubber T20I lacked focus. They were slipshod in the field, with Rehan Ahmed and Ben Duckett both dropping straightforward catches; the first prompted Jofra Archer to put his hand over his face, while the second drew a resigned laugh. Only a substitute teacher wheeling a VCR player onto the outfield could have added to England’s end-of-term vibe.The gap in intensity between the sides was most apparent in the run chase, when the game turned on Jos Buttler’s run-out. The ball after Dawid Malan fell, slashing Mustafizur Rahman behind, Buttler ran through for a single after Ben Duckett had chopped into the covers. Buttler scampered through, but was ball-watching just long enough that Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s athletic pick-up-and-throw caught him just short of his crease.Related

Tamim: Bangladesh 'should tour Australia and England more often'

England accept Bangladesh battering in pursuit of long-term gain

Bangladesh's leap of faith finally paying dividends

Litton Das finds spark before Bangladesh bowlers choke chase

“I’m really disappointed in myself for not diving,” Buttler said afterwards. “You should be fully committed to making that run… it potentially cost us the game.” From 100 for 1 after 13 overs, England managed 42 runs off the next 42 balls to fall 16 runs short.It was, Matthew Mott admitted, England’s worst performance out of three bad ones in the T20I leg of this tour. “I thought our first 15 overs in the field were nowhere near the level we’d expect,” Mott said. “We really wanted to finish well here… the lead-in was good, everyone was up and about.”But for whatever reason, we just couldn’t get clean hands on the ball, either in the air or on the ground. We showed a bit of ticker at the back end… [but] they were still at least 15-20 over par on that wicket. That one hurts today. To finish the way we did today will leave a bit of a sour taste in our mouths.”Mott’s defence of their decision not to bring a sixth batter echoed Buttler’s own comments after the second game, and underlined the sense that England saw results in this series as an irrelevance. “If you look at how many players we’ve exposed this year alone, we’ve gone a fair way down the depth charts,” Mott said.ESPNcricinfo Ltd”The realisation [was] that we’re probably better off investing in some batters that were put under pressure in these games. You only learn from your mistakes: the opportunities that they’ve been given here will give them time to reflect and when we get into pressure situations in World Cups. I’m confident it was the right decision.”The overall sense is that this tour will be swiftly forgotten by England – if not their hosts, who will justifiably use the result to underline their progress in T20Is and, perhaps, to question why they have not been deemed worthy of a reciprocal visit for the last 13 years.From afar, this series has felt like cricket for the sake of broadcasting commitments and the fulfilment of contracts. The ODIs offered genuine value for both sides, representing competitive cricket in relevant conditions seven months before the 2023 World Cup; England have treated the T20Is like an afterthought.And perhaps they have been right to. These fixtures were initially meant to represent preparation for the 2021 T20 World Cup in India – which was later changed to the UAE – but were postponed by 18 months as part of the pandemic-induced schedule crunch, elbowed out of the way by the second half of that year’s IPL.For the past three years, England have played so often that it can be tricky to remember which series is preparation for which tournament. These T20Is were framed as opportunities for their 50-over squad, but were also their first since they won the World Cup four months ago, yet their title defence is only 14 months away.England have been stretched by tours to five different countries this winter•BCBWho could blame the ECB’s staff for breathing a collective sigh of relief on Tuesday evening? Three years and one day after England abandoned their tour of Sri Lanka, rushing home in time for the UK’s first lockdown, their Covid backlog of fixtures is finally over. In that time, they have played 127 times across formats – only India have played more – of which 72 have been overseas.England have used 35 different players this winter across five different countries, with countless others travelling around the world as support staff, unused squad members and administrators on diplomatic duty. There is hardly time for them to touch base at home before they are off again, back on the county grind or at the IPL.It has been a gruelling treadmill; as double world champions and the world’s must-watch Test team, England have set the pace for so much of this winter that they could afford to slip off right at the end. While every game of international cricket should matter, some matter more than others. In truth, this was not one of them.

Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav register the first century stand for Mumbai in three years

Sampath Bandarupalli03-May-2023215 Target Mumbai Indians chased down against Punjab Kings, the joint third-highest successful chase in IPL history. Punjab were on the receiving end of the highest IPL chase of 224 by Rajasthan Royals in 2020, while Mumbai’s 219 against the Chennai Super Kings in 2021 is second on the list. Royals also had chased down 215 against Deccan Chargers in the inaugural season.1 Mumbai became the first IPL team to chase down 200-plus targets in successive games. They chased down 213 against Royals in their previous game on Sunday. Overall, Mumbai is the third team in T20 history to chase down 200-plus targets in successive matches. Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2011 Champions League and Kerala during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy during the 2020-21 season are the others to do so.5 Number of 200-plus targets successfully chased in IPL 2023, the joint-most for any T20 tournament. The T20 Blast in 2017 also had five targets of 200 and more runs successfully chased.4 Consecutive 200-plus totals for Kings, the longest streak for an IPL team. The previous longest was Kolkata Knight Riders’ three, also coming this year.4 Number of 200-plus totals conceded by the Mumbai and Kings in their previous four matches. They now jointly hold the record for conceding the most 200-plus totals in succession in the IPL. No team had conceded 200-plus totals in more than two consecutive games prior to this.116 Runs added by Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav, the first century stand for Mumbai in the IPL in three seasons. Their last century partnership was in 2020 when Kishan and Quinton de Kock had added 116 in an unbroken opening stand in 2020 against the Chennai Super Kings.66 Runs conceded by Arshdeep Singh in his 3.5 overs, the joint third-most by a bowler in an IPL game.

A civil engineering graduate, Madhwal had bowled only with a tennis ball until 2018. Now he is filling in for Jasprit Bumrah

Shashank Kishore and Daya Sagar25-May-20231:25

Have Mumbai found a specialist death bowler in Madhwal?

On Wednesday night, Akash Madhwal etched himself into IPL folklore. In the Eliminator in Chennai, he picked up 5 for 5, the joint-most economical IPL figures alongside Anil Kumble, to stun Lucknow Super Giants.It was a spell of the kind he had always dreamt of when he used to mimic bowling actions at the project site where he was employed as a civil engineer. Perhaps this is what he meant when, after the game against Gujarat Titans in early May, where he dismissed Wriddhiman Saha, Shubman Gill and David Miller, he told the broadcaster: “These are not my best figures, my best is yet to come.”Madhwal’s words reflected his quiet confidence. Last week, in a must-win game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, his four wickets and a terrific penultimate over was the difference between Mumbai having to chase 201, as opposed to 220. The highlights were the wickets of a marauding Heinrich Klaasen and Harry Brook.Related

• Mumbai discover uncut gems to make it farther than expected

• Madhwal, Mumbai Indians' yorker specialist in absence of big names

• No Bumrah or Archer? The spirit of Mumbai shines through

• Stats – Madhwal's record effort, MI's big win in playoffs

• Mumbai Indians overcome LSG by playing 100% pure T20 cricket

Coming from a middle-class family in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, Madhwal would see his neighbour, Rishabh, dedicate considerable time and effort towards training. While Madhwal, who went on to graduate with an engineering degree, casually played tennis-ball cricket with his friends, he would see Rishabh play with the hard ball.When he saw Rishabh train under coach Avtar Singh around 2013-14, Madhwal too was inspired to give professional cricket a shot. Rishabh would soon leave Uttarakhand and move to Delhi. Madhwal would realise only much later that his neighbour was destined for greatness. The boy he had known as Rishabh all along would announce himself to the world as Rishabh Pant.While Pant would move to Delhi to further his cricketing aspirations, Madhwal stayed back in Roorkee hoping to make something of his late initiation into the game. The turning point came in 2019 when Uttarakhand called for trials for the senior team in the second year of their existence.Akash Madhwal made history with his figures of 5-5 in the Eliminator•Associated PressWasim Jaffer, who was roped in as one of the coaches, was impressed by the raw pace and natural ability when he shortlisted Madhwal to be part of the senior state camp. Two months later, he made his state team debut in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. And incredibly, within two years of playing with the red ball, he also made his Ranji Trophy debut.In 2021, Madhwal was one of the reserve bowlers for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the UAE leg of the season. He had been told an opportunity could open up in the unfortunate event of an injury or a Covid case. That situation didn’t arise, but Madhwal, who only two years prior, was otherwise working as a planning engineer at a construction firm in Dehradun, thought he had lived his dream. After all, he got bowl to AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli.”Simply being called by my first name by two superstars who I had seen on TV was special,” a sheepish Madhwal would tell the RCB website.Madhwal was there on talent scout Malolan Rangarajan’s recommendation. Rangarajan had first seen him when he spent a season with Uttarakhand as a professional in their very first year since gaining BCCI affiliation in 2018-19. Two years later, when he went back as a scout, he remembered being impressed with Madhwal’s arm speed and deceptive pace.It turns out RCB weren’t the only team that had an eye on him. CKM Dhananjay, Mumbai Indians’ video analyst who is also known as DJ within the camp, had watched Madhwal bowl at the Abhimanyu Cricket Academy in Dehradun and was immediately impressed. He had also received feedback from Anand Rajan, the former Madhya Pradesh seamer, who would later join Uttarakhand as bowling coach.

When I was Uttarakhand Head Coach this boy came for trials. He was 24-25 and had only played tennis ball cricket. We were so impressed with his pace we roped him in right away! The year was 2019, and that boy was Akash Madhwal. Proud of how far he's come! #MIvsLSG #IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/BH0RTeRKvz

— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) May 25, 2023