Abrar Ahmed becomes 13th Pakistani to take five or more wickets on Test debut
Abrar Ahmed, a mystery leg-spinner making his debut, shocked England on Friday when he took seven wickets and England was bowled out for 180 before lunch on the first day of the second Test in Multan.
Abrar became the 13th bowler from Pakistan to get at least five wickets in his first Test match.
The 24-year-old, who is called “Harry Potter” by his friends because he wears glasses like the fictional boy wizard, got rid of Zak Crawley (19), Ben Duckett (63), and Joe Root (8) in the first two hours. He then sent Ollie Pope (60) and Harry Brook (9) on their way.
At the end of the first session, England had scored 180 runs, with Will Jacks and Ben Stokes each having 14. In terms of wickets, this session was very different from the first Test, when England scored 174-0 by lunch on the first day.
Before Abrar, Muhammad Zahid Nazir Jr., Bilal Asif, Arif Butt, Tanvir Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Shahid Nazir, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Arafat, Shabbir Ahmed, Muhammad Sami, and Noman Ali all took five wickets on their first Test.
Who is mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed?
Abrar was born in Karachi, but his family is from a small village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa called Shinkiari.
The 24-year-old got interested in the game while playing tape-ball cricket in Karachi’s Lines Area.
Setback
Abrar had a big setback in his career just as he was starting to get noticed in domestic cricket.
After the 2017 PSL, where Karachi Kings picked him as an emerging player, Abrar got a stage-five stress fracture and couldn’t play for two years.
“Abrar could have lost his ability to move. It was a big deal. In an interview with The Indian Express, his brother Sajid said, “I remember the doctor telling my older brother and me that he might never be able to play cricket again.”
A first-rate start
Abrar played his first game against Southern Punjab for Sindh in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in 2020.
He has taken 76 wickets in 26 first-class innings, with an average of 25.56 and a best of 11-63.
Role model
West Indies spinner Sunil Narine is Abrar’s role model in cricket, according to his coach