Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Peshawar Zalmi on Thursday announced its support for the family of Zubair Ahmed Mohmend, the aspiring cricketer who lost his life on August 14 after being struck by a ball twice while practising in nets at the Sir Nazim Cricket Academy in Mardan. Peshawar Zalmi’s owner Javed Afridi announced that the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise would bear all expense pertaining to Zubair’s younger brother Uzair’s cricket training and would help the young boy fulfill his elder brother’s dreams of pursuing a career in cricket. The Zalmi management, while expressing sorrow on Zubair’s death, also announced that Uzair would travel with Peshawar Zalmi for the third season of PSL. Zubair, a passionate cricketer from Katlang area of Mardan, was a student of intermediate and a regular visitor to Sir Nazim Cricket Academy, where he used to spend time doing training and net practice. A brother to five sisters and two brothers, Zubair was working hard to become a shining star of cricket, said academy coach Bakht Mohammad. “It was an off day in the academy due to 14th August. We had organised a ceremony to celebrate Independence Day at the academy where world-acclaimed cricketer Fakhar Zaman was invited,” Mohammad had recalled. He maintained that the staffers had asked Zubair not to play on an off day but the young cricket fan insisted to play in nets with other players and went inside. Mohammad said that Zubair was struck by a ball twice. “First the ball hit him near his ear and then the second ball hit near his neck due to which he collapsed,” he had said, adding that subsequently Zubair was rushed to a hospital at Katlang where the doctors referred him to Mardan’s hospital. “Zubair breathed his last on his way to Mardan,” he had said. The coach had said that the deceased cricketer was wearing all safety gears including helmet while he was practising.

Published in Daily Times, August 18^th 2017.