“My height is very big, my hair is very big and I have too much style,” Shapoor Zadran, tells you in broken English, the reason why Afghanistan World Cup jerseys with his name on it are flying off the counter of official merchandise shops. To underline the ‘style’ part, he caresses his tilted neck, throws back his freshly-showered wavy hair spiralling back this moment into curls and adds, “In Afghanistan, too much like in speed, too much like in long run up and too much like six.”

Every nation has a revered poster boy; Afghanistan is blessed to have a fantasy cricketer. Even a factory-made sporting ambassador of the land where they worship aggression wouldn’t have been a sidekick to Zadran. He is an angry pacer, who runs in from 40 yards with hair flying like a cape. He consistently clocks 145 kph plus and throws a piercing gaze at batsmen.

All boxes ticked for the cricket fanatics, you think, till the media manager Basheer Stanekzai mentions a virtue that explains the 27-year-old married man’s massive female fan following. “He is the one leading the Attan, others make a queue behind him. It’s a dance that we do during festivals, weddings and to celebrate wins. He did it when we qualified for the World Cup, he is outstanding, you can find him doing the Attan on youtube,” he says. Stanekzai is right on all counts. Light on feet, gracefully swaying body, subtle twists, sharp turns . The action hero turns into a dancing star.

At this World Cup, Zadran has been responsible for triggering several rounds of Attan back home in Afghanistan. With 8 wickets he is among the Top 10 wicket-takers in the Cup but it’s his unbeaten ‘10 ball 12’ as No.11 against Scotland that saw him trending on twitter. His boundary at 49.3 to give Afghanistan their first-ever World Cup win saw the social media giving him the ultimate salute — #respect.

Akhtar fan

It was a fairlytale ending with a tall, dark and handsome pacer celebrating like his role model, his alter ego, the original — Shoaib Akhtar.

With Afghanistan playing Australia, Zadran is at the WACA, the El Dorado of pacers, with Akhtar on his mind. He says he has modelled himself on the Pakistan pacer, hair style included. The media manager, who translates the questions, volunteers additional information. Zadran’s six-year-old son too has the Akhtar-cut – centre-parting, framing the face and bouncing like a horse’s mane would when they trot about. The proud father throws back the spiralling wavy tresses and smiles.

To reach the World Cup, sitting on Monday mighty pleased under a canopy, beaming at the international media’s wide-eyed audience, the speedster has had to suffer the slow crawl of time on his tough journey. His tribe, the Zadrans, inhabited the mountainous terrain of Khost-Gardez Pass that has seen intense resistance against the Soviets.

Most Zadrans would move to Pakistan or Iran. Our Zadran grew up in Pakistan, the impressionable years of his youth coinciding with Akhtar’s 150kph years. “Zadran returned in 2001 when the new government was in place,” says the media manager Basheer. Ask Zadran about his boyhood memories of watching cricket from Australia, and Perth in specific, on television and he rattles off proper nouns and few more words. “Dennis Lillee, Shaun Tait, Brett Lee, Ambrose, Walsh, Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar too much bounce, too much speed.”

Mentioning Akhtar twice just underlines the deep impact that the Pakistan bowler’s had on him. The repeated ‘too much’ is the typical subcontinental superlative, with none of the negative connotation. Will he be able to sleep a night before the Perth game? “Yes but my mind will be focused on the match, inshallah.”

Hunting in pairs

The prospect of watching Zadran and his equally interesting pace partner, the somersaulting, Rambo-like Hamid Hassan has excited the locals. Fox Sports are calling them Afghanistan’s Lillee and Thomson. Hasan was the original speed king, first Afghan to bowl at Lord’s. Now, he has company — someone faster than him, with the right-left new ball combination creating a buzz in Australia and New Zealand. The other day at Brisbane, intrigued by the look of the steaming-in new ball bowler, Zadran was described as the love child of Mohammad Irfan and Ishant Sharma.

Though, it’s hard to believe, Zadran insists that he wouldn’t get carried away by the WACA hype. He talks about his bowling plan and they aren’t the kind that would give an Afghan fan an adrenalin rush. This Wednesday, he isn’t playing chin music. “Australia batsmen are good for hook and cut, I focus on the fourth stump.”

Afghanistan’s new coach, the Englishman Andy Moles, has added some much needed calm to the forceful set of cricketers. He has helped them drop the image of being overly aggressive and nudged Zadran to shed weight.

“He has lost probably 8 kg in weight and he has got fitter. When I came I think we had an issue at hand since as you say Zadran had a reputation of being a wild child. I have told him why we need to get fitter and why he needs to be calm.”

If you worry that Zadran, under Moles, will go slower, cut his run-up, morph into a line and length bowler and, maybe, even cut his hair, those fears are unfounded. “The long run-up works for him as it gives him rhythm. It makes him strong at the crease; we wouldn’t change.

“The coach understands the sentiments of the nation he now represents. Everybody needs an idol; he is someone who people look upto. I want him to play and bowl the Afghan way and not the Andy Moles way.”

Not far, Zadran caresses his tilted neck, throws back his freshly-showered wavy locks spiralling back this moment into bouncy curls.

After first win, a call Afghans will remember

Perth: It’s been a week but Team Afghanistan can’t forget February 26, the day they won against Scotland, their first World Cup triumph ever. The Afghans celebrated on the field, in the dressing room and, several hours later, they continued to sing and cheer in the team bus. But suddenly, they would all go silent, all because of a call that the media manager Basheer Stanekzai received. The mobile was put on loudspeaker mode and the players would make a huddle around it.

“It was the President Ashraf Ghani, he wanted to speak to the boys and convey his wishes to the people. Even former President Hamid Karzai spoke to the boys,” says Stanekzai. The presidents spoke about the significance of the achievement, conveying to the team that they had defeated a team that has a century old cricket history. The win was also a balm to the nation that was mourning the death of 100s in the mountainous valley near capital Kabul. Stanekzai said that later in the team hotel, they would celebrate with an Indian meal. “Butter chicken and dal makhni is what we had,” he said. Among those who have been in constant touch with the team is Afghanistan’s football captain who is friends with the cricket skipper Nabi.