Khurram Khan — One of the finest players from UAE

During the 2004 Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, Khurram led his team.

In the midst of many living legends in today’s modern cricket like Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and many more, hardly anyone knows about or follows some of the other living legends of the game from associate nations. One such man is UAE’s Khurram Khan, who could well be called the legend of his nation’s cricketing empire. Ayush Gupta takes a look at this legend’s legacy so far in the cricketing world.

Born in Multan, Pakistan, Khurram Khan, who could well be called an all-rounder owing to his all-round ability in cricket, made his debut for the UAE in 2001, in the ICC Trophy in Canada. In thw whole tournamnet, he batted on eight innings and scored about 243 runs with an average of 60.75. His average was the best among all UAE players in the tournament, although other players in his team like Ahmed Nadeem and Arshad Ali had scored more runs than him. He was also the highest wicket-taker for the UAE in the same event as he claimed 13 wickets from a total of 95 overs with an average of 13.52. He was also the third-highest wicket-taker in the tournament. So he came into the scene with a bang.

Despite his all-round performance in the tournament, UAE failed to qualify for the ICC World Cup in 2003 in South Africa as his team finished fifth in the points table. He was named the captain for the ICC Six Nations Challenge in March 2004 as a qualifier for the ICC Champions Trophy the same year in England. However, his team again failed to qualify after finishing fifth on the table despite Khurram becoming the highest wicket-taker of the tournament again.

During the 2004 Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, Khurram led his team again and lost the opening two games to the South-Asian giants India and Sri Lanka respectively and were bowed out of the tournament. Although successful with the bowl, he failed to shine with the bat scoring just 13 from the two matches.

Khurram also participated in the ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2004 and 2005 where he scored 329 runs from four matches that included four fifties and also claimed eight wickets. He missed out on being the highest wicket-taker of the tournament to Ali Asad who had 35 scalps in five matches. He again led his team in the 2005 ICC Trophy, but again missed out on a World Cup spot after his side lost the fifth place play-off to the Netherlands.

Of late, Khurram has been playing quite a good cricket despite his growing age of 43 years. On November 30, he created a history when he scored his maiden ODI century against Afghanistan in Dubai with a score of an unbeaten 132. He also became the oldest cricketer in the history of ODI cricket to score a century, surpassing the Sri Lankan legend, Sanath Jayasuriya, who scored his last century during the age of 39.

Below is the list of the oldest players to hit a century in ODI cricket:

Overall, looking at his official ODI performance, he has played nine matches and has scored 342 runs at an average of 42.75 along with a strike-rate of 78.98 including a century and two half-centuries with the highest score of 132 against Afghanistan in his last ODI. He is also currently tied with his fellow teammate, Amjad Ali for most runs in ODIs for UAE.

Thus, it proves that amidst of the giant cricketing nations, the associate nations, even if they do not play competitive cricket regularly, they have players that could create wonders in the cricketing world and should not be underestimated, forgotten or neglected at any cost as it could be they who could well one day rule the game.

 (Ayush Gupta is a reporter at CricketCountry. A passionate supporter of Manchester United, he idolises Roger Federer)

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