A late gift for Rafatullah Mohmand

At the age of 39, Rafatullah finally got the call

It is every cricketer’s dream to represent the country, to wear the prestigious cap and to become one of the plenty thousand aspiring cricketers to bag the honour of wearing the national jersey. Most cricketers get the opportunity in their teenage or early twenties.

But there have been a few who have had to wait for a long time to achieve the ultimate destination. From the land of fast bowlers, Pakistan, there came a batsman who got the chance of a lifetime to represent the country at the age of 39.

On 26th November 2015, Rafatullah Mohmand, the right-handed batsman, made his international debut in a T20 match against England at Dubai and in doing so, he became the oldest player to make T20 international debut for Pakistan and for any other Test playing country for that matter.

For nearly two decades, he kept playing domestic cricket with the dream to play for Pakistan and just when he was considering retirement at 39, he received the biggest blessing of his life when he was selected in the T20I squad.

He made his first-class debut way back in 1996 for Peshawar. He hasn’t missed a single season of cricket since then. Prior to the national selection, his biggest achievement remained being picked for the Pakistan A side for a one-day tournament to be played in Australia.

Becoming the second highest run-getter in the Gold League earned him the prize. But a national selection remained far from getting.

It is quite understandable if a player strives to be a part of the national team for nearly 20 years, he is bound to get frustrated at some point of time which is indeed what happened with Rafatullah.

He himself confessed that he had once thought of moving to Afghanistan. He considered playing the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in 2009 by representing the nation from the neighbourhood which he eventually could not do because he had not lived in the country for the required duration.

He has played 169 first class matches in which he averages 29.35 with the highest score of 302*. His List A career average is 38.83. But he might have rediscovered himself with the advent of T20 format.

He possesses a strike rate of 136.26 in his T20 career and it indeed was his stint in the 2015 domestic T20 tournament that earned him a berth in the Pakistan squad. He batted with a strike rate of 157 to help his team Peshawar clinch the title.

In his inaugural T20I match, it was not the kind of start he must have been hoping for. He managed 16 runs of 20 balls and could hit just one boundary. He looked troubled by the short of length bowling by the Englishmen.

Pakistan lost the match by 14 runs chasing a target of 160. Even in the second T20, he batted at a strike rate of less than 100 scoring 23 runs of 24 balls hitting 3 boundaries.

He realizes that being at the age of 39, he does not have a long career ahead of him. He hopes to play well in whatever chances that he gets in the future and hopes to win as many matches for Pakistan as possible.