Kings XI Punjab co-owner Preity Zinta was on a shopping spree in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 auction, buying a total of 21 players including the West Indies swashbuckling batsman Chris Gayle.
But more than Gayle, Preity is happy for picking the 16-year-old Afghanistan off-spinner Mujeeb Zadran in her side.
Zadran was bought by Kings XI Punja🌞b for a whopping amount of INR 4🃏 Crores.
The off-spinner also became the youngest player to go under the hammer in the cash-rich T20 league ever. He was the fourth Afghanistan player to be picked by any of the franchises after Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Zahir Khan.
Mujee✃b has already featured for the national side and has played 3 ODIs in which he has pi🐽cked 7 wickets at an average of 16.57.
Preity Zinta reveals the secret:
Many teams wanted the Afghanistan cricketer in their side and they went all-out for him in the auction. But it was KXIP who✨ were successful to pick for the whopping amount. When asked about the reason of going for him aggressive🉐ly, KXIP co-owner Preity Zinta said that Mujeeb Zadran has a mystery element in his bowling.
“It was a joint effort of the coaching and scouting staff. His (Mujeeb) name was always there and he has been an interesting talent and a bit of a mystery, so we went for him,” she told reporters after the auction.
The ‘mystery element’ which Preity referred to is the youngster’s ability to bowl traditional off-spin and mix it up with leg spin and ripping googlies. He is somewhat unknown to many in the cricketing world but is surely a ‘complete package’ as Afghanistan coach Andy Moles had earlier termed him. It would be interesting to see what he offers in the eleventh edition of the IPL.
