MUJEEB UR RAHMAN

He can bowl traditional offspin and mix it up with legspin and ripping googlies to make what Afghanistan coach Andy Moles terms a “complete package”. At just 16, Mujeeb wants to follow in the footsteps of Rashid Khan, his senior by two years. There’s plenty of hype surrounding him too, supported by the weight of his performances. Mujeeb was part of an Afghanistan Under-19 side that clinically dismantled Bangladesh 3-1 in their own den. Bowling predominantly with the new ball, Mujeeb, who picked up eight wickets in the first three games of that series, nearly doubled his tally during the course of a nine-over spell in which he took 7 for 19, the joint second-best best bowling figures in all Youth ODIs. This performance was all the more spectacular as it helped Afghanistan defend 133. Mujeeb went on to pick up 17 wickets in the series, the most by a bowler in a bilateral Youth ODI series.

These performances against their own country perhaps coaxed Comilla Victorians to sign him as a replacement player during the 2017-18 edition of the Bangladesh Premier League.