Musheer Khan scores a century exactly after one year
Dedicates his ton to his late Uncle, who passed away on Saturday morning
The 20-year-old scored 112 off 162
Top-order batter Musheer Khan paid a heartfelt tribute to his late Uncle, who died just a few hours before Mumbai's match against Himachal, with an outstanding century at the MCA Cricket Ground. Tears were clearly visible in his eyes as he raised his bat and helmet to dedicate his 112-run knock to his beloved "Mamu".
The reason behind teary eyes was not just the passing of his Uncle, but also for the fact that it was his first Ranji Trophy century since September 2024 during a match between India A and India B in Bengaluru, where he scored 181.
After that, he had suffered a horrifying car accident in Lucknow and sustained a neck fracture, which kept him out of action for more than 6 months.
Yesterday as he found out the news of his Uncle's death, Musheer Khan was motivated to do something extraordinary and after decent outings against Chhattisgarh (round 2) and Rajasthan (round 3), the big knock finally came.
With Mumbai losing 4 wickets at just 73, including his brother Sarfaraz Khan (16 off 57), Musheer stood for a solid partnership of 157 runs along with Siddhesh Lad, who also had a day to remember, scoring 127 off 260 balls.
Musheer Khan brought up his century in his 143rd delivery with a single off Himachal's Aryaman Dhaliwal. The 20-year-old jumped in the air, looked up to the sky and later opened up about his gesture as well as the bond he shared with his late Uncle.
Notably, Sarfaraz and Musheer's father - Naushad Khan, who always makes sure to watch their games, was not present at the MCA ground on Saturday morning as he rushed to Azamgarh to be their for his grieving family.
"First of all, this century has come after a long time. And the second thing is that my mother’s brother (uncle) died this morning. So I was feeling very sad for him. I have been with him since childhood. I have played with him. So I was feeling a little weird. I became emotional after hitting 100. So I cried a little." - Musheer said at the end of day 1.
The youngster left the crease after putting Mumbai in a strong position along with Siddhesh Lad. Musheer's 112 runs came off 162 balls with 14 fours.
Mumbai are currently 370/8 at Lunch on day 2 with Shams Mulani (34 off 62) and Tushar Deshpande (9 off 23) standing at the crease.
