Ignored for nine years, SRH’s Zeeshan Ansari earns spotlight after spell against DC

New Delhi April 1 dmanewsdesk: There were two highlights for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) after their dismal showing against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Vishakhapatnam on Sunday.

One was Aniket Verma’s innings that helped SRH get to 163. The other was an unknown Indian leg spinner who took not one but all three of the wickets that DC lost.

Dismissing Jake Fraser-McGurk, Faf du-Plessis and KL Rahul is no easy feat when they are all on a roll and hitting bowlers like Pat Cummins with disdain. But who is this leg spinner who made the cricketing world stand up and take notice?

Zeeshan Ansari, a 25-year-old from Lucknow. He isn’t a new name, but an unknown one.

Zeeshan had played for India in the 2016 under 19 World Cup which India lost in the finals. That was one of India’s strongest under 19 teams with Rishabh Pant leading Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Sarfaraz Khan, Avesh Khan and Khaleel Ahmed.

Each of these players have played for India, but until yesterday, Zeeshan, who shared the dressing room with these cricketers, wasn’t even a name any cricket fans knew.

Zeeshan Ansari’s father is a tailor in Lucknow’s shopping hub, Hazratganj. Despite being just 16 when he played for India at the under-19 level, Zeeshan has played far too few cricket matches for his home side, Uttar Pradesh.

Zeeshan has played five Ranji matches for his state and since 2020 he has been sidelined despite picking up 17 wickets in those games.

Former U-19 India selector and cricketer Gyanendra Pandey said, “I don’t want to get into why he didn’t play more for Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket all these years. But he was UP T20 league’s highest wicket-taker for Meerut Mavericks and that’s how SRH scouts picked him.”

Pandey discussed SRH’s selection of Ansari.

“I was coach of Kanpur Superstars and he played for Meerut Mavericks. Sameer Rizvi (who is with DC) is a big name in the UP T20 circuit and he dismissed him effortlessly. Those who watched the UP T20 league saw his talent and yesterday a bigger audience got to watch him play.”

Gopal Singh was Zaheer Ansari’s childhood coach from age 12 at the Lucknow Development Authority.

Singh said, “Kuldeep was most of the time busy with international cricket but somehow our coach Sunil Joshi (former India spinner) didn’t find anything special in the boy.”

Joshi has been no stranger to controversies. In a post on X in 2023, Joshi indicated he preferred Suryakumar Yadav in India’s Test squad over Cheteshwar Pujara. He received flak for his comments. Yadav hadn’t made his debut then, and Pujara had impressive records.

After India’s poor showing at the T20 World Cup, officials sacked Joshi from the selection panel in 2023.

Singh also credited Rinku Singh for playing a supportive role in getting Ansari back to top. “Rinku supported Zeeshan a lot during the UP T20 league. A leg-spinner needs a lot of confidence from his captain. He was brought into bowl at crucial junctures and that helped him catch the attention of scouts.”

Zaheer Ansari finished with figures of 3-42 in his four overs. He comes at a price tag of 40 lakhs, which seemed much more worthy as more expensive bowlers like Pat Cummins, Mohammed Shami, and Harshal Patel failed to create any problems for the DC batters.

Source: www.telegraphindia.com