A valiant fifty against Delhi Capitals for Lucknow Super Giants in the recently concluded IPL 2024 provided Arshad Khan with a much-deserved limelight. The left-hander couldn’t take his side home that night but his effort with the bat made a lot of headlines.
Hailing from Seoni, Arshad is now living his dream of being a cricketer and is very thankful to his father who has played a very important role in his career. In an exclusive conversation with CricketNext, he talks about time spent at MI and LSG and life lessons from Sachin Tendulkar.
Excerpts:
What has been your father’s role in helping you become a cricketer?
I was very fond of the game right from the beginning. My brother got selected for district cricket and his kit used to fascinate me a lot. Honestly, I developed an interest in the game because of my elder brother.
But my father has played the biggest role in me becoming a cricketer. He has been a really big support. Ghar k bahar ka jo aangan hota hai use change karwa kar farsh karwaya concrete wala, sirf meri practice k liye.
Apart from that, he used to bowl to me and made me understand different aspects of batting like defence, flick and some other strokes. Basically, I got my first coaching lessons from him. I’m really thankful to my father and the kind of support that he has shown to me.
You were training kids for free during your time away from cricket. Can you share the details about the same?
So, while I was playing for MP, I sustained an injury. I had come to Seoni after a very long time during that period. There I realised that the kids are playing the sport but there aren’t really many facilities for them. I alongside Tiwari, who gives training at my club decided to start training some of the kids.
We had a chat that we will provide the facilities to the kids who are not really able to avail of them. We decided to talk to some people and get a ground for practice. We got a lot of support from all around. What we actually did was we charged 650/- for the balls only from the players who could afford to pay.
Did you travel 300 km to play cricket matches?
I just want to clarify one thing no one has really said this 300km of travelling thing. I rather read it in the newspaper myself. I stay in Gopalganj which comes under district Seoni.
Basically, Seoni is 12 km away from our place. We don’t really have many opportunities in Gopalganj so, we used to travel 10-12 km to Seoni. Yes, for matches, we used to travel long distances but that’s it.
You were a part of the Lucknow Super Giants setup. Share your experience of being a part of the franchise.
I have had a very good time with Lucknow Super Giants management. The owners are really good. Justin Langer is a brilliant coach. He takes care of the little things of every player in the side. I just feel a coach plays a big role in creating a good environment in the side and he has done that. Even our captain KL Rahul also kept a very good and friendly environment in the team.
How do you see LSG’s campaign in this IPL 2024?
See, you can’t really win or lose at all times. That’s how the game works. Failure is something that teaches you a lot of things. According to me, the campaign was going decently but a couple of things went here and there.
How was the experience of being a part of the Mumbai Indians dugout?
I have talked about Mumbai Indians earlier as well. I will tell you an instance. I got injured in my first season while playing for the Mumbai franchise and because of my injury, I started getting some doubts in my head. But MI treated me really well.
They helped me plan my rehab, retained me in the next season and also gave me a chance to play. They really look after the players in a very good way and have a very good setup.
You have played under KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma. Do you find any specific difference between the two captains?
All the captains are a bit different from each other. I really enjoyed playing under both of them. I would like to play under both of them in future as well as one is the India captain and the other one leads our franchise.
Tell us about the bowling tips that you got from Morne Morkel and Shane Bond.
Both of them are legends and very big players. They both are really good coaches as well. One thing I really liked about both is that they treat everyone very nicely. I had a very good experience with both of them. Morne Morkel gave me some tips about my grip, and run-up to enhance my skills. That has been really helpful for me.
You scored an unbeaten 58 against Delhi Capitals but you didn’t really look pleased then. Was it because you were not able to finish the game for your side?
The only thing that was playing on my mind while I was out there was winning it for my team. Moreover, I also had the equation in my mind that if we would have won that game and the next one, we would have qualified. When Yudhvir was batting with me, I had that confidence that we could finish the game.
But after his dismissal, the onus was on me and I tried my best to complete the task. I was just backing my strength. Unfortunately, that didn’t really happen and I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to finish the game.
You had a brilliant Under-25 CK Nayudu Trophy season in 2019-20 (36 wickets and 400 runs). But you are yet to play Ranji Trophy for the state side. Is there any specific reason for that?
I had a very good (2019-20) season during that period. I got a place in the Ranji Trophy camp as well after that and have been a part of the squad. But the thing was I had a back injury before the season where I would have got the chance. Later, I again sustained an injury which was followed the rehab. So, this was the main reason I didn’t get to play the Ranji trophy. The association supports me a lot.
Tell us your experience of being around a coach like Chandrakant Pandit.
Chandu Sir is very serious as far as cricket is concerned. He likes to win and he has got that same culture in the MP side as well. The kind of culture that he has created is very helpful for MP cricket.
You have photos with Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni on Instagram. Can you tell us about the conversations you have had with both of them?
Me and Sachin Sir didn’t really have any chat about cricket. It was more about life. But I had a cricketing conversation with MS. He talked to me about the importance of swing bowling as I’m a left-arm fast bowler and also maintaining fitness.
The Ranji Trophy in two halves while the white-ball tournaments will be held in between the two phases. How difficult or easy it is for a player to make the shift from red-ball to white and vice versa?
I think after making a shift from red-ball to white-ball format isn’t really that difficult. If you are playing red-ball cricket, you get into that groove and rhythm as you have already bowled a lot in the longer format.
Being an all-rounder, what kind of drills do you follow to keep a balance between bat and ball?
As a fast bowling all-rounder, it’s very important for a player to take care of the fitness bit and also the diet. I just try to focus on all these things and also concentrate on my practice drills. No matter if I’m playing or not, my focus has always been to have my practice sessions regularly. This includes batting, bowling and fielding.
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