KARACHI: A pair of 19-year-olds played a major part in helping Sialkot Stallions win the Super 8 T20 Cup tournament in Faisalabad prior to the arrival of Zimbabwe cricket team for the first full-fledged international series in Pakistan since the ghastly attack on the Sri Lankan Test team in March 2009.

Of the two young guns, Gujranwala-born opening batsman Nauman Anwar who scored 276 runs in the domestic competition, was rewarded with a Twenty20 International debut in the second game of the series against Zimbabwe while leg-spinner Usama Mir narrowly missed out selection.

Usama was the leading wicket-taker in the Super 8 T20 Cup with 11 victims to emerge as one of the brightest prospects in Pakistan cricket.

The unassuming Usama, talking to Dawn in an exclusive interview from Lahore on Tuesday, said that he felt ‘over the moon’ during the Stallions’ triumphant campaign.

Currently attending the Emerging Players Program at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), Usama indicated that he has one major aim in his cricketing life. “Like all youngsters, my dream is to play for Pakistan and do my country proud. It’s a philosophy which I’ve planned for myself. The road to fulfil that ambition is definitely not going to be easy,” Usama revealed. “I’m also aware of the hurdles which will come in the way. But if the focus remains, I’ll get there sooner than later.”

Unusually tall for a spinner, Usama considers his 6’3” frame as a distinct advantage. “For a slow bowler, height can become another weapon. It helps in getting deliveries to bounce awkwardly from the good-length spot,” the Sialkot-born spinner says. “Leg-spin is my primary weapon because since a very young age it came naturally to me. With the passage of time I have learned to master the googly and other varieties as well.”

Usama candidly admits being a big fan of the retired Australian legend Shane Warne and said that he used to copy his delivery stride.

“When I was growing up, I watched Warne more closely than other spinners. And such was my admiration for him that even I took up being like him when bowling. Warne had a nice walking sort of a bowling stride and I used to do almost exactly the same,” Usama pointed out. “But when the coaches started teaching me, I changed my run-up too according to what they [coaches] thought would help me become a better bowler. Now I have adopted an angular stride to the crease which is quite different to Warne’s action.”

Usama credited his emergence as a cricketer to ex-Pakistan batsman Zahid Fazal and former first-class player Aamir Wasim who enjoyed success as a slow left-armer in the PCB domestic tournaments. “Without the efforts of these two gentlemen, I wouldn’t have taken up the game. Zahid initially spotted me while I was playing in a local match and encouraged me to appear at the trials and join the cricket academy run by Aamir Wasim in my hometown,” Usama said. “It was on Zahid’s recommendation that Aamir enrolled me at his academy. If you ask me I simply have no words to thank Aamir because without his support and guidance I wouldn’t have achieved anything at all.”

Since he lives in Sialkot, Usama is a huge fan of Shoaib Malik and has high praise for the former Pakistan captain. “Shoaib has made a major impact in my professional career. The young players like me are fortunate that someone of his calibre is around to help us out. Sialkot Stallions are the best T20 side in country because of our captain,” the youngster says. “Despite being the senior-most player in the team, Shoaib backs us all the time and treat us like younger brothers. From the team’s perspective, the camaraderie in the Stallions’ ranks is unmatchable and this is a key element in our success over the years.”

Usama, who has played just two first-class matches so far for Khan Research Laboratories, hopes to be an all-rounder. “I take my batting very seriously and at the club level I have scored a lot of runs. In fact, people may not know that I was padded up to go in at No 3 during our T20 Cup match against Abbottabad Falcons [last month]. But Shoaib opted for Bilal Asif who played an amazing innings [114 from 48 balls] to set up a big win.”

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2015

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