Younger brother of Sarfaraz Khan, who made his India debut in a Test match against England earlier this year, Musheer honed his skills at the famous Azad Maidan in Mumbai under the tutelage of his father, Naushad Khan, who himself has played first-class cricket.
A batting allrounder, who bowls left-arm spin, Musheer broke his elder brother Sarfaraz’s record of being the youngest player to debut in the Kanga League at the age of just 8 years. Sarfaraz held the record earlier when he played his first Kanga League game as a 10-year-old. However, it was Musheer’s bowling and 25 wickets that earned him fame.
Consistent performances through age-group cricket got Musheer into the Mumbai squad for the U19 Cooch Behar Trophy in 2022. The tournament turned out to be the launchpad for him to get into the Ranji Trophy squad.
With 632 runs and 32 wickets, Musheer was named the ‘Player of the Tournament’, and it became his entry point to first-class cricket.
He made his Ranji Trophy debut in the 2022-23 season but failed to impress and was dropped for the last league match. But the right-handed batsman responded in style.
Playing the U-25 CK Nayudu Trophy in January 2023, Musheer hammered 339 runs off 367 balls against Hyderabad, smashing 34 fours and 9 sixes in total.
Later in 2023, he scored a century (139) for India B in the final of the U19 One Day Challenger Trophy in Guwahati and also took three wickets.
Those performances earned him a place first in the U-19 India squad for the Asia Cup and then for the 2024 U-19 World Cup in South Africa.
With 360 runs in seven matches, Musheer was India’s second highest scorer in the U-19 World Cup — only behind skipper Uday Saharan. His left-arm spin fetched him seven wickets.
Grown in confidence, Musheer scored a double century (203) in Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Baroda when his team had its back to the wall.
He upped his performance and credentials a few notches higher in the Ranji final against Vidarbha by scoring a century in the high-pressure match. At 19 years old, Musheer became the youngest Mumbai player to score a century in a Ranji Trophy final.
His latest heroics, a fighting 181 off 373 balls against India A in the ongoing first-round match of the Duleep Trophy in Bengaluru, have further highlighted his reputation as a batsman to watch out for.
India B were reeling at 94 for 7 on day one when Navdeep Saini came in to join Musheer. The duo added an incredible 205 runs for the eighth wicket before Musheer was dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav.
The knock may or may not earn him a place in India’s squad for the upcoming two-match Test series, but the day doesn’t seem far when he will don the India jersey, possibly alongside his brother Sarfaraz.
