Pakistan's New Pace Prodigy

[DJ Sahastra]

PTI reports from Islamabad:

Pakistan's new pace sensation, Zubair-E-Zabbar is all set to rock the cricketing world.

Already nicknamed "Bahawalpur express", Zabbar's exploits are legendary. He is said to bowl 105 mph with his left hand and 110 mph with his right hand. In fact, talking to our special correspondent, Zabbar conceded that many a times he gets confused as to which arm he is going to use for bowling.

Playing for Mohalla Cricket Club (MCC-Karachi), Zubair has already created quite a stir at the young age of 14. There is some confusion about his age, as experts believe he should be atleast 22. But in Pakistan where real-ages are almost non-existent, sociologists are often asked to determine the social age of the cricketers, and they seem to agree on the 14 year mark.

Zabbar's run-up is legendary. Playing cricket close to F-16 airforce base nearby, Zabbar's run-up extends almost the same length as the nearby F-16 take-off runway. Legend has it that he often beats the F-16s in their take-off run as he rushes in to bowl his now famous "red missiles".

While Zabbar idolizes Shoaib, he also treats him as a competitor in a way and wants to beat all of his speed records. He also wants to break more stumps than Shoaib has so far and wants to have a run-up larger than Shoaib's. He has been practicising using a circumferential run-up along the boundary before heading towards the bowling end. What we would be seeing would be a classic 90-degree run-up.

One of the Zabbar's dream is to bowl 110 mph bouncers that will sail over the keeper's head and land outside the boundary ropes. When reminded that it would be a "Six" in favour of the opposition team, Zabbar quipped non-chalantly "I don't care".

Zabbar derives his name from a famous movie villian "Gabbar". His legends have reached every nook and corner of Karachi cantonment. It is only a matter of time when he'll be seen on the national and international stage.

May Paglar Baba help India. :duh: