Kashmir’s promising cricketer Qamran Iqbal (17) has made it to the under-19 national side. Elated over his selection, the teenager from old Srinagar city now dreams of playing test cricket for the Indian national team.
“I had attended a month-long National Cricket Academy camp that concluded on August 24 and on Tuesday, I got a call that I have been selected for the under-19 team. This is a proud moment for me. It was my dream to play test cricket,” the right-handed opening batsman told Kashmir Post.
A Class XI student of SP School and a resident of the Safakadal area, Iqbal said he would be a part of the Indian squad playing an under-19 cricket tournament from September 12 in Lucknow. Under-19 teams from Afghanistan and Nepal are also scheduled to take part in the tournament.
He said he started playing cricket from an early age and Indian skipper Virat Kohli was his favourite batsman. “I started playing cricket when I was only five years old and it was my dream to play at the international level. I have sseveral favourite players, Virat Kohli being one of them,” he said.
Qamran’s selection to the national side is bound to encourage young cricketers of the Valley as not many locals have represented the state at the international level. In the recent past, only Parvez Rasool from Anantnag in south Kashmir made it big at the national level after he made his one-day debut against Bangladesh in 2014. He also featured in the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he played for the Pune Warriors and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Valley’s pinch hitter Manzoor Dar, too, had been bought by the Kings XI Punjab in the last edition of the IPL.
