Sharjah: Cricket flows in the genes of the family of Khurram Khan, the talismanic figure of UAE cricket.
Younger brother Zeeshan Khan — a left-hand batsman and left-arm spinner — has been guiding Multiplex International Cricket team to impressive victories in domestic tournaments.
In the ongoing Bukhatir League, Zeeshan cracked 65 runs and bagged three wickets against Phoenix and followed it up with an innings of 69 runs and three wickets against Red Flower Tourism. Only recently, he had bagged the prestigious award for the outstanding player in Division One category from Abu Dhabi in the Shyam Bhatia annual award for cricketing excellence in domestic cricket.
Khan is delighted at being able to perform consistently like his elder brother Khurram, who had played a pivotal role in UAE qualifying for two ICC Cricket World Cups recently.
“I am enjoying my cricket and happy that I am able to do what my brother has been doing consistently over the years here,” Zeeshan told Gulf News.
Zeeshan is the youngest of a family of five brothers.
“My eldest brother is Atiq, Khurram is third and I am the youngest. Three of us have played first class cricket for Multan. I learnt the game from my brothers and I represented Multan’s Under-19 team. Unfortunately, there weren’t higher age group events in Multan except club cricket.
“Khurram helped me a lot financially from here to pursue a career in cricket in Pakistan. Soon after, I left for England to play club cricket for Upper Mill team in Yorkshire. In 2009 and 2010, I won the best Overseas Player of the Year award in league cricket,” added Zeeshan, who came to UAE in 2011 and now works for Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technology (ADAT).
Zeeshan came into reckoning for the Best Player of Division One award with a spectacular five-wicket haul and an unbeaten 73 against Phoenix in Abu Dhabi’s 50-overs tournament.
Having completed four years of residency in the UAE, Zeeshan qualifies to represent UAE in international cricket from this year.
“It will be great if I can get to play international cricket for UAE like my brother has done and I will work harder towards it.”
Ever since Zeeshan took over as Multiplex International team captain, the team’s performance has been on the upswing.
In the Bukhatir League, Multiplex registered an emphatic 189-run victory over Red Flower Tourism. In the eighth Al Dhaid Gold Cup Tournament at the Al Dhaid Cricket Village Multiplex XI defeated Unicon Real Cricket Club by six wickets.
In Umm Al Quwain, Multiplex International defeated National Trading and Developing Est by 69 runs to emerge champions in the second Corporate Premier T20 League organised by Umm Al Quwain Cricket Association.
