Juned Khan: An autorickshaw driver turned Mumbai pace bowler

Juned Khan, a Mumbai debutant from Kannauj, shares his inspiring journey from autorickshaw driver to cricket star.

With at least a dozen international and Indian Premier League superstars featuring in the Irani Cup tie, each one of them had at least one crazy superfan seeking a selfie or a wave at some point over the last five days.

But the loudest cheer for a player across five days was for a debutant from Mumbai who hails from Kannauj — approximately 120 km west of Lucknow.

His mother could not come down but many of his friends and extended family members from the city that’s renowned as India’s perfume capital — or Grasse of the East — were present every day to cheer for their son.

And Juned Khan — the burly pacer — did not disappoint them as he earned the prize scalp of Rest of India captain Ruturaj Gaikwad in his maiden spell in First Class cricket.

That wicket was a fairytale beginning of a toil of an ordinary Indian who struggles to make ends meet.

“I couldn’t sleep at all ever since I was told on the match eve that I will be playing my first match for Mumbai, that too in the Irani Cup,” an elated Juned said. “The wicket was a bonus. Just to find myself here is like a dream in itself.”

A budding cricketer from U.P. travelling to Mumbai — or Kolkata — and making it big is a familiar tale. But Juned‘s story is different. When he moved to Mumbai from his hometown a decade ago, it wasn’t in quest of realising his dream.