The Abu Dhabi T10 offers a wonderful platform for the UAE cricketers to fraternize with some of the world’s biggest starts. Not just the budding cricketers, but also some senior professionals like Rohan Mustafa have made the most out of these experiences.
Mustafa, who played 54 ODIs and 55 T20Is for the UAE, joined the Bangla Tigers for the 2022 edition from Team Abu Dhabi.
Best known for his ability to bowl the yorkers consistently, Mustafa won the trust of his new teammates with some terrific bowling in the practice sessions. The 34-year-old relishes the opportunity to play alongside all these stars in the ADT10.
“Playing alongside big names is a big challenge for us. But these players give us the confidence to play freely,” Mustafa said.
“There was a practice match where Ben Cutting was the captain. I asked him if I can bowl the first over and I bowled six yorkers, giving away seven runs.
“Later on in the nets, Cutting asked me ‘How many yorkers can you bowl in two overs’ and I replied ‘If things work well I can bowl 10’. I challenged Cutting to score 10 runs in an over off my bowling and won it, since then the management got to know more about my skills,” Mustafa added.
The UAE player also revealed that Bangla Tigers’ skipper Shakib Al Hasan backed him to bowl those full deliveries regardless of the result.
“Shakib bhai asked me where I wanted to bowl and what my strengths were. I told him that my strength is bowling the yorkers and I will bowl whenever he needs me to. I told him you can call me ‘yorker king’. He backed me immensely during this campaign.
“The plan was simple, to bowl yorkers no matter what the result was. I have some variations as well if yorkers don’t go well, but I prefer to just bowl it full and tight,” Mustafa explained.
Unfortunately for Mustafa and the Bangla Tigers, their campaign in Abu Dhabi T10 Season 6 ended on Thursday with a defeat to Team Abu Dhabi.