Rishabh Pant has made a strong impression on former Pakistan captain Mushtaq Mohammad, who likened the Indian wicketkeeper-batter to Shahid Afridi — and even went a step further.“Rishabh Pant is the Indian Shahid Afridi, in fact he is even better than Afridi when he has a bat in his hand,” Mushtaq told PTI while attending day four of the India-England Test at Edgbaston.
His admiration for Pant is part of a broader fondness for Indian cricket, which he continues to follow closely despite spending most of his life in Pakistan and now the UK. Mushtaq also praised Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli, saying, “Kohli could have still played for another two years. He should be here with the Test team. Don’t know why he retired.”Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The 81-year-old, who now lives in Birmingham, made headlines at Edgbaston by wearing a tie featuring the Indian flag — a quiet yet powerful reminder of his roots in Junagadh, Gujarat, from where he migrated to Pakistan at the age of six.“I would love to go to the place where I was born and grew up in. The nearest I came to visiting Junagarh was when I played the Dilip Sardesai benefit game in Ahmedabad. I could have taken the train to Junagrah but the schedule was so tight. Unfortunately, I could not return after that,” he told PTI.Mushtaq has visited India twice: in 1961 for a Test series, and in 1978 for the benefit match. But despite his desire to visit his birthplace, visa complications — especially as a Pakistani national — continue to block his return. He recalled being unable to attend his close friend Bishan Singh Bedi’s daughter’s wedding for this reason.He became emotional while speaking about Bedi, the legendary Indian spinner and his longtime teammate at Northamptonshire. Mushtaq credits Bedi for unlocking his potential as a bowler:“Bishan, what a humorous man. He loved his cricket. We played together at Northamptonshire for six years, our families had so much love for each other. I recently met the Bedi family in London, the great Zaheer Abbas was also there. I can’t forget those years. Very sad to lose him, bas yaadein rahe jaati hain.“His contribution to Northamptonshire and English cricket is tremendous. He helped me become the bowler that I became. My selection in the side was as a batter who could bowl a little. I loved bowling but nobody trusted me. When Bishan saw me playing at Northampton, he said you have got a great ability to bowl. He used to spend time with me in the nets, he used to tell me how to bowl. (He would tell me) ‘don’t get scared if you are hit for a six as a leg-spinner’. Spinners buy their wicket.“He told me a lot of things about leg spin and I became a good bowler. At end of my career, I got plenty of runs but I never thought I could get 936 wickets in first class cricket. It is quite a lot for someone who did not believe in himself. Bishan was the only one who made me into a bowler.”The former Pakistan captain remains close with many Indian greats, including Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. “Gavaskar was the best batter of my time. He scored so many hundreds against that West Indies attack and that too without a helmet. It was incredible,” he noted.On the current cricketing landscape, Mushtaq acknowledges India’s dominance and laments the absence of India-Pakistan bilateral series, adding, “Indian cricket is on top no doubt. Everyone wants to play India for obvious reasons (financial). One thing close to my heart is India playing Pakistan in their respective countries. It is the biggest rivalry. They don’t play each other and sadly it has nothing to do with cricket.”
