Moments after he whipped Bhargav Bhatt for a single on the on-side and sprinted for a single, Musheer Khan leapt with joy, thanked almighty with a long stare to the sky, kissed his willow, then acknowledged his teammates and before turning back to hug Hardik Tamore, turned towards the far corner of the clubhouse to blow a kiss to Naushad Khan – his father-cum-mentor – and elder brother Moeen.
The last month has been memorable – to say the least – for the Khan household. Musheer notched up two hundreds in the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa. Days later, elder brother Sarfaraz marked his much-awaited Test debut with consecutive fifties. And on Friday, Musheer earned a Ranji Trophy recall after a timid outing last season and made the most of the opportunity by scoring an unbeaten hundred, his first in First Class hundred.
“I enjoyed watching him (Sarfaraz) bat (in Rajkot). He is doing well and it will be better if he remains there (with the Indian team),” Musheer said moments before Naushad could join him, and the duo exchanged a tight hug. “We may be having similar batting styles but he bats better than me.”
While Musheer bats in a style much similar to his elder brother, it was impressive to witness the maturity in his knock. When the odds were stacked against Mumbai, he ensured the scoreboard kept moving.
“My mindset was to keep speaking with my partner and play for the remainder of the day. It was not an easy wicket and the idea was to go for the boundary-balls or else keep working with the singles,” Musheer said.
Last season Musheer tallied 96 runs in five innings over three matches before being dropped. Four days shy of officially ending his teenage years, the burly batter realised that he had to continue to stretch the Mumbai innings deep by converting his maiden hundred into a Daddy hundred, synonymous with his family in every sense.
“My job is far from done but I am very happy since it is my first hundred. I will try to take the game as far as possible,” he said.
