Huge fan of Rohit, that’s why did not celebrate his wicket: J&K pacer Umar Nazir
Huge fan of Rohit, that’s why did not celebrate his wicket: J&K pacer Umar Nazir
Every fast bowler dreams of claiming the wicket of Rohit Sharma, and Umar Nazir is no different. But as the six-feet-something fast bowler from Jammu and Kashmir got the prized wicket of the Indian captain, who mistimed a pull shot and offered a regulation chance, the celebrations were muted.
While his teammates congratulated him for the big scalp, Nazir quietly went back to his business as if nothing had happened.
“I am a huge fan of Rohit, and that’s why I did not celebrate,” Nazir said with a smile after the day’s play.
Despite being part of Jammu and Kashmir’s red-ball side for more than a decade, this was the first time Nazir had the opportunity to bowl to the Indian captain. As he went on to claim four wickets and run through Mumbai’s top-order, he could not control his emotions.
“I know Rohit is something, he is big. When you dismiss an international player of that stature, it is always a prized wicket. There was some help from the surface – I tried to bowl in the right areas, and Rohit’s wicket was important for us and for me, personally, as well,” Nazir added.
The 31-year-old seamer, hailing from Malikpora, a small town in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, went on to bag the wickets of Hardik Tamore, Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube, but Rohit’s wicket was the ‘most memorable one’ of his career.
The last time Jammu and Kashmir stunned Mumbai in a Ranji Trophy outing, back in 2014, Nazir was a budding cricketer, but he distinctly remembers every moment from that historic game at the Wankhede Stadium. And, this time, after restricting Mumbai to a paltry 120, Nazir is confident of his team’s chances. “If we win this game, it would be a proud moment because India’s captain is playing in the opposition,” he said, adding: “We came to Mumbai ten days back and got acclimated to the conditions, which helped us…”
Having played for Tata in the Times Shield seven years back, Nazir had a fair idea about how the BKC wicket would pan out, and he kept things simple. “I tried to bowl fuller lengths because of the bounce on the surface,” he said, adding that there was no pressure. “I slept off at 10 pm last night and woke up around 7 am and was relaxed,” Nazir said with a smile.
