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Umar Nazir from Jammu and Kashmir took four wickets against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, including dismissing Rohit Sharma. He aims to make this game memorable.
Umar Nazir finished off the first innings with four wickets, giving away 41 runs in 11 overs. (Imge: PTI)
Jammu and Kashmir’s Umar Nazir ran riot against the star-studded Mumbai’s batting unit as the pacer finished with four wickets in the ongoing Ranji Trophy clash at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy in Mumbai on Thursday.
While all the attention was on the return of Test stars like Rohit Sharma, and Yashasvi Jaiswal to first-class cricket, the 31-year-old pacer managed to steal the spotlight by getting rid of the Indian skipper cheaply.
After facing just 19 deliveries in the innings, the six-foot-four pacer managed to pitch one slightly shorter which got the top edge as Rohit looked to pull it towards the leg-side. But the delivery was a tad wider than Rohit expected and found the fielder at the cover region.
Coming from the South Kashmiri district of Pulwama, Umar belongs to a middle-class family where his father is a timber businessman. His father played the ‘mohalla’ cricket and his support enabled Umar’s rise to first-class cricket, as mentioned in an earlier report by CricketNext.
The quick bowler has not had it easy. He has been all over the country representing the state in several competitions. This includes the time when Jammu and Kashmir had shut down due to the abrogation of Article 370. Despite not being able to contact his family due to the shutdown of internet services, he remained committed to the sport and has even taken part in camps organised by the former India pacer, Irfan Pathan, as mentioned in a report by Indian Express.
The right-arm pacer has represented his state across all three formats. He boasts a rather impressive record of 138 wickets at an average of 29.12 from 57 first-class games. In List-A cricket, he has 54 scalps from 36 games and 32 wickets from 20 T20 matches.
While his dreams of playing for the Indian team might not be a reality, he has taken the perfect moment to showcase his best performance getting rid of past and present modern-day stars like Rohit along with Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube and the young star, Hardik Tomore.
With the rest of the innings left ahead of him and the next innings, this game against Mumbai could certainly give him a chance at putting in his most memorable performance against some top-tiered opponents.
