By: Aabid Hameed
Srinagar: The cricketers from Kashmir have once again come into the limelight in the world class Indian Primer League (IPL) as out of the several called for the trails; one young talent from South Kashmir’s Kulgam district has been picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at a base price of Rs 20 lakh.
22-year old teenage pacer from Kulgam, Rasikh Salam Dar, is set to feature in 15th edition of popular T-20 Indian Premier League (IPL).
Hailing from Bhan Ashmuji area of the district, Rasikh, son of Abdul Salam Dar was picked up at the base price of Rs 20 lakh by KKR in their 25-member-squad for IPL—2022.
Belonging to a middle class family, Rasikh is the youngest among four siblings and was earlier picked up by Mumbai Indians at Rs 20 lakh in year 2019.
His father is a government teacher, mother is a housewife while as his brother and two sisters are students.
As per his family members, in year 2019, after the Vijay Hazare trophy, Rasikh was called for the trails in the Mumbai Indians camp and was picked up by them after watching his ability to swing the ball both ways.
He made his debut against Rajasthan in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he showed his skills, said his brother Aadil, adding that he along with his family and relatives are sure that he will perform well if he gets chance to prove skill in coming edition of the IPL.
“We are very much happy with his selection and hope that he gets chance to prove his mettle on the field,” they said and added that he was aspiring to achieve his goal of playing professional cricket from primary school days and cricket is his passion.
“We are watching on phone and TV to know whether Rasikh will get sold or not and after he was sold, we got very much happy,” said one of his relatives.
“We know he is very good player and he will definitely prove his mettle if given chance,” he said.
In June 2019, Rasikh Salam was banned by the BCCI for two years following a discrepancy–submission of faulty birth certificate to BCCI.
Rasikh recently played for J&K under-25 side and performed well. However, he was still left out of J&K Ranji Trophy side.
During his two year ban, Rasikh trained in Mumbai Indians academy in Mumbai.
His brother said that ups and downs are part of life and person who never gives up reaches to the goal and anyone who is interested in any field must work hard and success will definitely come.
Notably, ten players including left-arm young pacer from Anantnag Mujtaba Yousuf placed at serial 161, followed by Rasikh Salam serial 242, Parvez Rasool serial 354, Qamran Iqbal serial 367, Fazil Rashid, serial 391, Henan Malik, serial 436, Abid Mushtaq, serial 445, Nasir Lone, serial 446, Auqib Nabi, serial 492 and Vivrant Sharma, serial 545 were shortlisted for auction from J&K for IPL 2020 with base price of Rs 20 Lakh each excluding Parvaiz Rasool whose base price was Rs 50 lakh.
Already two J&K cricketers Abdul Samad and Umran Malik were retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs four crore each in the squad.
So far four players from J&K have played in IPL which includes Umran Malik, Abdul Samad, Parvaiz Rasool and Rasikh Salam.
