Antum Naqvi

[mnelson68]

Naqvi is 24 years old , bats / bowls and isn't even at his prime years of cricket yet. Could have a 10 year international career in front of him if all goes well and wants to play for Zim. It's a great story so get behind him and stop coming up with reasons not to accept him. It's actually refreshing that a foreigner wants to make Zim his cricketer home. He just might be the saviour , because as it stands Zim cricket is falling behind other cricketing nations. I hope he is a big success because it will only help Zim get better not worse.

[Googly]

You're assuming he will knock international cricket out the park? If only it were that easy. I want to see him against a really sharp bowling attack. He's unlikely to do worse, that's a good start I guess.

[Pat_Bee]

It’s a good story and keeps on giving. It’s given 20 pages and spanned two seasons.

Will cost his dad a cool million to get him in the side replacing Wez or wellykadza though. I’ll stand by that. ZC ain’t messing with the shinga quota no matter how good you are.

Sure he’s a good player but there’s no skirting round the fact we’re his third choice and he’s paying to play even then. The real test will come facing bowlers serving something spicier than pies.

[secretzimbo]

If he was that good he'd have made it in Australia. He didn't. Fact. Or in Pakistan, where he also went and tried out for a PSL team/academy. Or literally any other country all of whom offer a better cricketing scene and better life than Zimbabwe. He's in some remarkable form but let's not kid ourselves that he's a better player than Raza, Ervine or Williams. And we don't win much with them. So calling this random Pakistani dude our 'saviour' and 'only hope' as if he's going to single handedly win world cups for us Maybe we'll at least beat Namibia occasionally with him in the side?

Him doing so well is more an indictment of our local domestic cricket standard than anything.


Or alternatively maybe he is God's gift to cricket and he is world class....and then what? As soon as he gets a better offer he'll fuck off quicker than you can say Biryani.

[secretzimbo]

Do Belgium have a cricket team? He's eligible. They'll probably be competing with us soon enough anyway.

[secretzimbo]

If he does do well, whats the plan then? Maybe ZC can scrap all of their current half-attempts at development and just recruit 11 guys from Pakistan instead?

Is that the dream? 10 imports from Pakistan with Faraz Akram captaining and Naqvi's Dad the head coach - playing amongst themselves every week in Vic Falls? Then the board can just spend all the money they currently have to spend on development in the bar at the hotel instead.

Will the forum be proud then, when Zimbabwe is ranked top 5 in the world but is represented by nobody actually from Zimbabwe? It sounds like a lot of posters here would be thrilled.

[Pat_Bee]

Ya if you’ve got to go overseas and buy your way into the Zim system to make a career as a professional cricketer then you can’t be that good to be honest. But yet he’ll still be the best player we had, smashing all the records in the books. He models himself on Raza already, wait until he starts throwing inshallahs into interviews with Tino and Stanley on the one stream a year that has moving cameras and commentary. No way he’ll recoup all the money he’s invested even on a BT sized contract.

Wasn’t him or an associate posting on here at some point?

[Pat_Bee]

If he does do well, whats the plan then? Maybe ZC can scrap all of their current half-attempts at development and just recruit 11 guys from Pakistan instead?

Is that the dream? 10 imports from Pakistan with Faraz Akram captaining and Naqvi's Dad the head coach - playing amongst themselves every week in Vic Falls? Then the board can just spend all the money they currently have to spend on development in the bar at the hotel instead.

They’ve started with that deal with the Qalanders sending 5 quicks over for a few games. Hold them hostage and wheel them out for ICC events.

Vic falls in the 120,000 seat mega stadium.

[TapsC2]

Ya if you’ve got to go overseas and buy your way into the Zim system to make a career as a professional cricketer then you can’t be that good to be honest. But yet he’ll still be the best player we had, smashing all the records in the books. He models himself on Raza already, wait until he starts throwing inshallahs into interviews with Tino and Stanley on the one stream a year that has moving cameras and commentary. No way he’ll recoup all the money he’s invested even on a BT sized contract.

Wasn’t him or an associate posting on here at some point?

If he has a Raza like career he will recoup. People underestimate how much these guys make especially Raza with all these T20 leagues. This is why I get frustrated sometimes. The top guys are well looked after and earn much better than 99.9% of the people in this country.

It's also why sometimes I think the senior players will push on for a bit. The money is good. If they dont join Hami they won't get that money anywhere else in Zim unless they start their own Bitumen World or venture big time into tobacco.

[Pat_Bee]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antum_Naqvi#cite_ref-1

Didn’t even know he was on there! Qualified commercial pilot too hey?! Really is the story that keeps on giving. “Belgian born Zimbabwean cricketer” makes the green mamba sound a done deal