HYDERABAD: Sharjeel Khan came from a middle-class family residing in Hyderabad’s Latifabad area to become the only Test cricketer from the city to represent Pakistan.

His cricketing fortunes have fluctuated since he first appeared for Pakistan in 2013 and the five-year ban imposed on him for spot-fixing on Wednesday adds a new twist to his career in which he remained in and out of the team before firmly cementing his place in the national team as its premier opening batsman last year.

The 28-year-old now faces at least 30 months out of the game for his involvement in the spot-fixing scandal that broke out in this year’s second season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) — the country’s glitzy Twenty20 league which thrust him back into the spotlight in its first edition in 2016.

“I’m really saddened [by his ban],” Regional Cricket Association (RCA) Hyderabad president Mir Suleman Talpur said on Wednesday.

“Sharjeel had been doing net practice at our Khan ground in the city and was hopeful about a positive outcome in his case. But it is a huge blow for his career and for all the budding cricketers of the city for whom he’d become a role model.

“So hopeful he was that he was maintaining his fitness and he’d even started taking boxing classes at the board stadium too.”

Noted for his flamboyant and attacking batting at the top of the order, Sharjeel made his Twenty20 International debut in December 2013 before making his One-day International debut later that month.

In doing so he joined Faisal Ather and Rizwan Ahmed as only the third cricketer from Hyderabad to represent Pakistan in an ODI.

The watershed moment for the dashing left-handed opener came in the inaugural season of the PSL where, playing for Islamabad United, he showcased his full repertoire in making the first century of the event before forcing his way back into Pakistan’s limited-overs squad after a two-year hiatus last August.

Impressive limited-overs performances saw him make his Test debut against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in January where he managed just four in first innings and 40 in second innings.

It remains the only Test he’s played and with the ban it seems that he will miss out on the game just when he was at the peak of his powers.

“It’s a loss for the national team,” District Cricket Association (DCA) Hyderabad president Shakeel Qureshi said. “As far as Hyderabad is concerned, he had emerged as an enterprising cricketer from our city and was giving daring performances for Pakistan against some of the top teams of the world.”

It was that daring style that first brought him to the notice of the country’s cricket talent-spotters.

Sharjeel, who has scored 812 runs in 25 ODIs and 360 runs in 15 T20 Internationals, caught the attention by smashing 23 sixes while making 300 against Badin in an inter-district match and in 2005 made his way into Pakistan’s Under-19 team, playing four matches.

In 2009, Sharjeel — the son of a Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) employee who is also engaged in some plastic products related business — made his first-class debut for Hyderabad, scoring a century in his first match.

He went on to represent Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), scoring his highest first-class score of 279 in 2014 with them, and United Bank Limited (UBL).

With the ban, he wouldn’t be featuring on the domestic circuit as well.

“For me he was an obedient boy as I saw him growing up as a child,” an umpire from Hyderabad said. “He was a man of few words. It is indeed shocking for me.”

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2017