Elated Rasool hopes for more cricketers to emerge from J&K

Parvez Rasool on Friday created history by becoming the first ever cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir to find a place in the Indian cricket team.

All-rounder Rasool has been included in the 15-member one-day squad that is scheduled to tour Zimbabwe later this month.

“Allah has fulfilled my wish and I believe it has been the prayers and love of the people of Kashmir that I have been able to achieve this feat,” Rasool said. “Without the support of my family and the love of Kashmiri people this would not have been possible,” he added.
"I am very happy that my name has been included in the Indian team.

I did a lot of hard work this season, performed well in the domestic cricket where I took 33 wickets and scored 594 runs. I also did well against Australia, so I was expecting a call up for the Zimbabwe tour," said an ecstatic Rasool.

Terming this as a proud moment for the whole Kashmir, Rasool hoped that his inclusion in the Indian team will be a stepping stone for other budding cricketers from the state. The off-spinning allrounder who played two matches in the IPL VI for Pune Warriors, said: “We have lot of talent in Kashmir and if it gets right kind of infrastructure and exposure, we can produce a number of world class cricketers. I hope my selection will be the beginning,” he added.

Rasool’s coach Qayoom Bagaw who himself was a Ranji trophy captain of J&K said that his dream has come true. “There was a myth in Kashmir that players from this place can’t get a place in Team India. But today that myth has been broken,” he told Deccan Herald. “I had been coaching Rasool since he was 12 and I knew that this boy will do some thing big one day,” elated Bagaw said.

Rasool first came into limelight in 2009 after he was detained by the police in Chennai’s Chinnaswamy stadium, days before a Champions League match was to be played in there, for allegedly carrying explosives in his bag. He, however, was given a clean chit a day after the detention and there has been no looking back ever since.  “Whatever happened that day was really unfortunate but the incident has made me mentally tougher as a cricketer,” said Rasool.