Mujeeb Ur Rahman age row clarified; initial claims were based on an error

Afghanistan’s teenage spin sensation Mujeeb Ur Rahman had yesterday got into trouble following a report that proved he had falsely listed his age. Mujeeb’s ESPNcricinfo profile says that he is 17 years old and was born in March 2001, becoming the first player born in the 21st century to play international cricket.

However, according to an interview with former Afghanistan coach Rashid Latif, Mujeeb had been spotted in a senior training camp several years ago. Latif coached the side back in 2010, which would have meant that Mujeeb was much older than his age as listed on various platforms.

According to the interview with Latif which was published on the news outlet Dawn, Latif had spotted Mujeeb Ur Rahman at a senior team trial in 2010. The section in question read as follows:

“I was approached by Hamid Shinwari, the then CEO of the board, and travelled to Afghanistan to find a good bunch of players during a short camp in Kabul. Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Afsar Zazai, Amir Hamza and a few others were potentially good cricketers,” Latif says.

These speculations and conspiracies have however been put to rest after the editor of Dawn Asif Khan spoke to Rashid Latif himself regarding this piece of information, only to find out that the accusations were based on a grave error. Latif clarified that it was a mistake, adding that the name he mentioned was ‘Najeeb’ and not ‘Mujeeb’.

Najeeb and not Mujeeb

Asif took to Twitter to reply to the extract where Latif speaks about having spotted Mujeeb, and wrote, “Just checked with Latif & he pointed out this as a mistake. He said it was Najeeb not Mujeeb. Writer’s fault! my apologies”

This goes on to prove that the initial claims over Mujeeb Ur Rahman falsifying about his age are untrue, and were based on an error by the writer of the article. In the aftermath of the news that created a stir in the cricketing world yesterday, there were many who also called out Rashid Khan about faking his age, claiming he has a similar story. However, this piece of information remains unverified.

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