KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) inter-school tournament AH Kardar Cup is providing the country’s youth to showcase their talent.
14-year-old Kamran Riaz from Islamabad is one such youngster. Playing for his school team Islamabad College of Science and Arts, Kamran smashed a brilliant double century (226 off 121 deliveries) in a 35 over match against Beacon House. During his innings Kamran hit 40 boundaries, punishing the opposing team’s bowlers.
Kamran who study’s in class 9 and is the only brother of three sisters told Geo.tv that he is a fan of Sachin Tendulkar and wishes to surpass the Indian batsman.
“I have always watched Tendulkar's batting and I want to become a batsman like Sachin,” Kamran said, after his performance which helped his team win the match by a huge margin of 210 runs.
“I want to play for Pakistan and want to break all the records set by Tendulkar, I want to bring all those records to Pakistan,” said the opening batsman.
Kamran says he wants to break Sachin Tendulkar’s world records
Kamran’s father, Mohammad Riaz, speaking to Geo.tv after his son’s remarkable performance said he encouraged his son to play cricket when he was just three years old.
“I always wanted him to play Cricket, so I handed him plastic bats and balls when he was just three years old,” Riaz – who has played cricket at the district level in Haripur – told Geo.tv from Islamabad.
Excited with the performance of his teenage son, Riaz was hopeful that his son will continue to excel and will get a chance when the time arrives.
“I am very hopeful, my son has played at under 16 level and I am looking forward to a proper chance for him in the future.”
In the past, school cricket has provided great talent to Pakistan. Legendary players like Hanif Mohammad came into limelight from top school tournament Ruby Shield.
Experts and former cricketers hope that initiatives like AH Kardar will not only provide these youngsters with a platform to showcase their talent, but it will also provide PCB with a pool of talent at the grass roots level.