Ibrahim Zadran – a star in the making  

by Rex Clementine  

The highs of Afghanistan cricket despite the turmoil in the country is one of sport’s success stories. It’s quite extraordinary that Afghanistan earned direct qualification for cricket’s showpiece event later this year – the ICC Cricket World Cup – while former champions Sri Lanka and West Indies are still struggling unable to automatically qualify.

Half a dozen Afghans have earned IPL contracts whereas another emerging powerhouse Bangladesh is struggling to field even a single player. It’s the bowlers who have scripted many famous wins of the Afghanistan team and have featured in the IPL. Ibrahim Zadran could go onto become the first Afghan batter to be rated world class and he has already shown signs of a bright future.

In ICC Rankings for the bowlers, three Afghan players feature prominently but there’s no place for a batter in the top ten. Rahmat Shah is the highest ranked Afghan at number 23.

Last year when Afghanistan toured Sri Lanka, Ibrahim Zadran was a key performer as the tourists squared the three-match series with one game being washed out. He scored two hundreds in the series.

Zadran came through the ranks first representing the under-19 side of his country. Currently 21, he has featured in eight ODI and has made a telling impact making three centuries.

An opening batsman, Zadran is very organized with his game and has the ability to go big during the Power Plays and then bat through the innings playing the anchor role. He produced a career best 162 last year at Pallekele, the highest score ever by an Afghan in ODIs.

Last year was a prolific one for Zadran as he scored all those three centuries. But since his career best 162, Afghanistan have not played an ODIs and the upcoming series at Suriyawewa is an opportunity for him to continue from where he had left. Zadran has already become an all-format player. He is quietly becoming the mainstay of Afghan batting and could go onto become one of world’s leading batters.