Teen spinner stuns with incredible 'mystery' ball
A 17-year-old spinner from Afghanistan has sent fans into meltdown with a remarkable piece of bowling in the IPL.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman has taken the cricket world by storm recently and was given the biggest contract for a debutant in IPL history.
And he's wasted little time showing the money was well spent.
His latest headline-grabbing moment came on Monday night when he produced an exquisite 'carrom' ball to bowl Rishabh Pant through the gate.
As you can see above, Mujeeb held the ball like a baseball 'knuckle ball' with his middle finger bent down.
Instead of spinning the ball away from the left-handed batsman in orthodox fashion, Mujeeb flicked it out the front of his hand, making it spin straight on and smash Rishbah's stumps.
It's just one of a number of deliveries Mujeeb has mastered.
The spinner bowls both leg and off-spin, and can produce a wrong-un with either method, leading to many fans labelling him the 'mystery bowler'.
Bowl the first ball in this game and take a dangerous PANT's wicket.. That Mujeeb for you.. Mystery Bowler 😎 #DDvKXIP@lionsdenkxip
— Hem KXIP🔥 (@Real_hem) April 23, 2018
VIDEO: @Mujeeb_Zadran's carrom-ball foxes Pant.
The mystery bowler struck on his very first delivery as he unleashed the difficult carrom ball to dismiss in-form Rishabh Panthttps://t.co/Ynme3Xye6n#DDvKXIPpic.twitter.com/hfh3LwFKHk— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 23, 2018
Fantastic over from Barinder Sran under pressure. Gave only 4 runs and also picked up the wicket of Liam Plunkett. 17 off the last over, set batsman Shreyesh Iyer on strike and mystery baller Mujeeb Zadran to ball. What a finish are we having tonight! #DDvKXIP#IPL
— Sparsh Telang (@SparshTelang) April 23, 2018
#DDvKXIP#KXIPvDD@ashwinravi99 has become an over intelligent bwlr offspin, legspin, carrom ball, straight ball, quicker delivery so many variations that he himself must b getting confused as wat to bowl! #DilDilli#DDvsKXIP#KXIPvsDD#IPL2018 may b go bak 2basics @lionsdenkxip
— AvB (@BaglaAvadhesh) April 23, 2018
Totally Match winning spell this from our #TurningCaptain@ashwinravi99 anna!! 3-15-0 😍 Legspin, Off spin, Carrom ball, Arm ball, floaters and everything you could imagine!! Legendary performance this by KXIP with anna;'s stupendous leadership!! Pull this win off. #DDvKXIP
— Kala Mani (@kalamani22) April 23, 2018
Mujeeb's carrom ball is the best I have seen in years #KXIPvDD
— Stupidus Suburbanum (@RajatGururaj) April 23, 2018
He even managed to bamboozle the great Virat Kohli last time out:
And in a perfect illustration of how far the teenager has come, he was handed the ball for the final over of his Kings XI Punjab's clash with Delhi Daredevils.
Delhi, chasing 144 to win, needed five runs off the final delivery but as Shreyas Iyer went for the glory hit he holed out to Aaron Finch at long off, leaving his side beaten by four runs and bottom of the table with just one win from five matches.
Mujeeb conceded 0-6-0-2-4 but Finch made sure when he claimed Iyer's hit with a fine reverse-cupped take.
"If we were serious about winning, this is a game we needed to win," captain Ravoi Ashwin said. "They wanted to attack, which fell into our hands."
with AAP