Rise of Mohammad Saleem Safi: Quit cricket at 16, impressed Pakistan’s Rana Naved-ul-Hasan with pace, now bags 6/140 against India

Afghanistan’s Mohammad Saleem (left) looks to the heavens after five wickets. (AP photo) TimesofIndia.com in Mullanpur: Three years ago, when Rana Naved-ul-Hasan arrived at Afghanistan’s high-powered center in Kabul as a bowling coach, a young fast bowler immediately caught his eye. Mohammad Saleem Safi, a lanky paceman from Baghlan province, bowled with real pace and troubled some of the successful Afghan batsmen in the nets.“He was touching 145 kmph. It excited me. I was amazed because you don’t often get real fast bowlers in Afghanistan. Yes, there were a few medium pacers, but out-and-out quickness is a rarity. My daughter got married last night, so I couldn’t watch the match, but I watched the live commentary and felt it was good to see the bowling. a high 130,” Rana Naved-ul-Hasan told TimesofIndia.com from Sheikhupura, Pakistan.“Saleem saab ki motor garm hone mein thoda waqt lag gaya (It took a while for Saleem to get into the groove),” laughs Naved-ul-Hasan.The former Pakistan bowler is right in his assessment of the 23-year-old Afghan pacer. The first day he rolled well, but only in patches. He was wayward and couldn’t sustain the pressure all over the field after playing some good deliveries. But whenever he hit the right spots, he troubled the batsmen.Prior to this one-off Test against India, Safi had failed to take a single wicket in his previous four international appearances. He played one Test, two ODIs and one T20I, but eventually got six against India.Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan claimed valuable wickets on the opening day. With the new ball he was leaping to probe lengths and keeping the Indian batsmen on their toes. Jaiswal was strangled down the leg side as Sudharsan chased down a 142km/h delivery at fifth stump, drove it behind and broke the 139-run stand for the second wicket.

Mohammad Saleem (PTI Photo)

On the second day, with the second new ball, Mohammad Saleem Safi made the ball talk at pace. He dismissed Centurion Shubman Gill. The Indian skipper, who knocked without a chance on the first day, looked a bit rusty. Gill drilled some lovely boundaries off Saleem before he got out. But the bowler had the last laugh. He hit the deck hard and pulled the bounce, producing a strong outside edge which Afsar Zazai caught safely behind the stumps.He then forced an error in judgment from Dhruv Jurel. The Indian batsman thought the ball was outside the line of the stumps and bounced. But to Jurel’s horror, he pinched himself just enough to hit a tree stump.Safi was relentless all morning and was eventually rewarded with goals. Then came the biggest moment of his cricket career when he found the outside edge of debutant Manav Suthar to complete his maiden five-wicket haul. He was pumped. He did a small circle with his arms raised, touched his forehead to the ground in celebration, and then was harassed by his teammates. He added another wicket to his column by cleaning up Mohammed Siraj to finish with career best figures of 6 for 140.“He was injured last year. He is coming back after a long layoff due to injury. He looked in good rhythm. The inexperience was quite visible, but the more he plays, the better he will be,” said a proud Naved-ul-Hasan.Naved-ul-Hasan says there is a tectonic shift towards fast bowling in Afghanistan and credits the robust domestic structure and ever-improving infrastructure.“The world has only seen mystery spinners from Afghanistan, but now there has been a massive shift. There is an annual hunt for fast-bowling talent and there are many players in the pipeline at U-19 and A-team level,” he said.Afghanistan is hosting seven domestic tournaments across all three formats from February to November, with Rana Naved-ul-Hasan actively involved in identifying talent for the development programme. The onus then lies with the National High Performance Center to source top players from the domestic circuit and create a structured pathway to prepare them for national team selection.“They have six teams in first-class cricket. Then there is Division Two, where teams play three-day cricket. They are very good in white-ball cricket, but they are still learning in the longer format. However, they are on the right track,” said Naved, who had a prominent career in Pakistan between 2003 and 2010, particularly in ODIs.“Take Saleem for example. He’s so hungry. I’ve traveled across Afghanistan and the fire in the belly of these kids is unmatched,” he said.

Mohammed Siraj leaves the country after being ostracized by Afghan Mohammad Saleem. (AP photo)

The task of Naved-ul-Hasan and former Pakistan opener Imran Farhat at the performance center is to build separate teams for all three formats.“The culture of T20 cricket is stronger. It is obviously the format that gave them the stars. But the main aim is to prepare quality fast bowlers for Test cricket. I have selected eight to 10 fast bowlers. Saleem and Ziaur Rahman Sharifi are playing in this Test. The aim is to create a group of fast bowlers who can serve Afghanistan in all three formats.However, challenges await the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) as well. Many promising cricketers have left the game due to financial difficulties.In an interview with ACB in 2020, Mohammad Saleem Safi admitted that financial problems had once pushed him away from cricket.“I started playing cricket about a year ago (2019) but due to severe economic and financial difficulties, I am trying to move forward. However, I am still putting a lot of effort into cricket. Cricket is very special to me,” he said.After all these years, Saleem Safi’s hard work has paid off. The open-chested Afghan predator was the main destroyer on the flat Mullanpur wicket under the blazing sun. His efforts also put a smile on Rana Naved-ul-Hasan’s face, giving him another reason to celebrate the work done in Kabul.“It was so satisfying. A pacer from Afghanistan hitting 140km/h and six wickets against India. A perfect day for me,” he said.