The rise of Mohammad Saleem Safi: He left cricket at the age of 16, impressed Pakistan’s Rana Naveed Al Hasan with pace, and now takes 6/140 against India

TimesofIndia.com in Mullanpur: Three years ago, when Rana Naveed Al Hasan arrived at the Afghan High Performance Center in Kabul as a bowling coach, a fast bowler immediately caught his attention.

Mohammad Saleem Safi, a lanky bowler from Baghlan province, was bowling real fast and troubling some of the deft Afghan batsmen in the nets.“He was touching 145 kilometers per hour. It excited me. I was in awe because you don’t often find real fast bowlers in Afghanistan. Yes, there were a lot of medium-pace fast bowlers, but fast batting is rare. My daughter got married last night, so I couldn’t watch the match, but I followed the live commentary and felt he bowled well.”

Today, it was exceptional. He bowled long distances and it was good to see him working in the top 130,” Rana Naveed Al Hasan told TimesofIndia.com from Sheikhupura in Pakistan.

“Salim saab ki enjin garam hoon mein thuda wat lag gaya (It took Slim some time to get into the groove),” laughs Naveed Al Hasan.The former Pakistani player is right in his assessment of the 23-year-old Afghan player. He bowled well on day one, but only in intervals.

He was wayward and failed to maintain the pressure over an entire period after bowling two overs. But whenever he hit the right areas, he troubled hitters.Before this one-off Test against India, Safi had failed to take a single wicket in his previous four ODIs. He played one Test, two ODIs and one T20I, but ended up getting six Tests against India.On the opening day, he got the valuable wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan. With the new ball, he bowled long distances and kept the Indian batsmen on their toes.

Jaiswal was stifled off the leg side, while Sudharsan chased down a 142km/h delivery down the line of the fifth stump, beat it behind, and broke the 139-run stand for the second wicket.

On the second day, with the second new ball, Mohamed Salim Safi made the ball talk fast. He dismissed the centurion Shubman Gill. The Indian captain, who suffered an unexpected knock on day one, looked a bit rusty. Finally before he goes out, Gil trains Slim in some delicious boundaries.

But the archer had the last laugh. He hit the deck hard and extracted a bounce, creating a thick outside edge that Afsar Zazai caught safely behind the stumps.Dhruv then forced Gurel to make an error in judgement. The Indian batsman thought the ball was outside the line of the stumps and would bounce. But to Gurriel’s horror, he backed away enough to hit the top of the stump.Safi was relentless all morning and was finally rewarded with a wicket. Then came the biggest moment of his cricketing career when he found the outside edge for debutant Manav Suthar to complete his maiden five-wicket haul. He was pumped. He did a little lap with his hands up, touched his forehead to the ground in celebration, and then his teammates mobbed him. He added another wicket to his column by cleaning out Mohammed Siraj and finished with a career-best 6 for 140.A proud Naveed Al Hasan said: “He was injured last year. He came back after a long absence due to injury. He seemed to be in a good rhythm. The lack of experience was very evident, but the more he played, the better he became.”Naveed Al Hasan says there is a radical shift towards fast bowling in Afghanistan and credits the strong local structure and ever-improving infrastructure.“The world has only seen mysterious spinning machines emerging from Afghanistan, but now there is a huge transformation.

There is an annual search for fast bowling talent, and at U-19 and first-team level, there are several players in the pipeline.”Between February and November, Afghanistan hosts seven domestic tournaments covering all three formats, with Rana Naveed Al Hasan actively involved in identifying talent for the development programme. It is then the responsibility of the National Center for High Performance to scout outstanding players from the local circuit and create a structured pathway to prepare them for selection for the national team.“They have six teams in first-class cricket. Then there is the second division, where the teams play three-day cricket. They are very good at white-ball cricket, but they are still learning in the longer format. However, they are on the right track,” said Naveed, who enjoyed a notable career in Pakistan between 2003 and 2010, particularly in ODIs.“Take Salim for example. He has this hunger. I have traveled through Afghanistan and the fire in the bellies of these children is unparalleled,” he said.

The task of Naveed Al Hasan and former Pakistan opener Imran Farhat at the Performance Center is to build separate teams for all three formats.“The culture of T20 cricket is stronger. Obviously this is the format that has given them stars. But the main aim is to prepare quality fast bowlers for Test cricket. I have selected eight to ten fast bowlers. Saleem and Ziaur Rahman Sharifi are playing in this Test. The aim is to create a pool of fast bowlers who can serve Afghanistan in all three formats,” he said.But there are challenges ahead for the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) as well. Many promising cricketers have left the game due to financial difficulties.In an interview with ACB in 2020, Mohamed Salim Safi admitted that financial issues once pushed him away from cricket.“I started playing cricket about a year ago (2019), but due to severe economic and financial difficulties, I am finding it difficult to move forward.

However, I still put a lot of effort into cricket. “Cricket is very special to me,” he said.After all these years, Salim Safi’s hard work has paid off. The open-chested Afghan predator was the main destroyer on a flat wicket at Mullanpur under the harsh sun. His efforts have also put a smile on Rana Naveed Al Hassan’s face, giving him another reason to celebrate the work being done in Kabul.“It was very satisfying. An Afghan player clocks 140kmph and takes six wickets against India. It’s a perfect day for me,” he said.