Kings XI Punjab co-owner Preity Zinta was on a shopping spree in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 auction, buying a total of 21 players including the West Indies swashbuckling batsman Chris Gayle.
But more than Gayle, Preity is happy for picking the 16-year-old Afghanistan off-spinner Mujeeb Zadran in her side.
Zadran was bought by Kings XI Punjab for a whopping amount of INR 4 Crores.
The off-spinner also became the youngest player to go under the hammer in the cash-rich T20 league ever. He was the fourth Afghanistan player to be picked by any of the franchises after Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Zahir Khan.
Mujeeb has already featured for the national side and has played 3 ODIs in which he has picked 7 wickets at an average of 16.57.
Preity Zinta reveals the secret:
Many teams wanted the Afghanistan cricketer in their side and they went all-out for him in the auction. But it was KXIP who were successful to pick for the whopping amount. When asked about the reason of going for him aggressively, KXIP co-owner Preity Zinta said that Mujeeb Zadran has a mystery element in his bowling.
“It was a joint effort of the coaching and scouting staff. His (Mujeeb) name was always there and he has been an interesting talent and a bit of a mystery, so we went for him,” she told reporters after the auction.
The ‘mystery element’ which Preity referred to is the youngster’s ability to bowl traditional off-spin and mix it up with leg spin and ripping googlies. He is somewhat unknown to many in the cricketing world but is surely a ‘complete package’ as Afghanistan coach Andy Moles had earlier termed him. It would be interesting to see what he offers in the eleventh edition of the IPL.
