From Mardan to Mirpur, spinner Sajid Khan’s inspiring cricket journey

LAHORE: Mardan-born off-spinner Sajid Khan has made rapid strides over the course of the last two years but his ascent to the highest level of cricket is a tale of relentless struggle, hard work, determination and a never-say-die attitude spread over two decades.

The 28-year-old made his Test debut against Zimbabwe in Harare last season and has already snared 18 wickets in his first four Tests. The highlight of Sajid’s short Test career has been his heroics in the Mirpur Test against Bangladesh in December, the off-spinner took 12 wickets in the match including eight in the first innings to lead Pakistan’s innings and eight runs victory in the ICC World Test Championship fixture.

According to Sajid, “My story begins from when I was eight years old. I have two elder brothers, one is a rickshaw driver the other runs a grocery shop. Only those without a father would know what a struggle it is. When I grew up and started college I used do to some odd sport related jobs like fixing bat handles and grips and making between Rs 4 to 500, I used to also sell cell phones to make some money that I could spend on purchasing cricket gear.”

He said, “After U-18 cricket, I barely got a chance to play Grade II cricket because Peshawar had a quality side and I could not make my way through that is when I left for Dubai. I used to work at Dubai Airport for five days and play cricket two days in the week. I had a six months visa but I didn’t even stay for six months as my mother asked me to return.”

After returning from Dubai, Sajid finally made a long awaited breakthrough as Imran Khan Snr handed him perhaps the best cricket gift he could have hoped for at that stage of his career. He said, “I found an opportunity to appear in Grade II trials, I got selected and joined the camp.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022