Jehan Mubarak ( ta, ஜெகன் முபாரக்; born 10 January 1981) is an American-born former professional Sri Lankan

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er, who played all formats of the game. He is a left-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

and a right-arm

offbreak Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

bowler.

Personal life

The son of Azeez Mohamed Mubarak, a first-class cricketer himself and later a prominent scientist, Mubarak was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, making him, with West Indian

Ken Weekes Kenneth Hunnel Weekes (24 January 1912 – 9 February 1998) was a West Indian international cricketer who represented Jamaica (1938–1947/48) and played two Test matches on the West Indies tour of England in 1939. Cousin of the renowned batsm ...

, one of only two Test cricketers born in the United States. His family soon returned to Sri Lanka, however, where he was educated at

Royal College Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...

, winning the coveted Royal Crown for cricket and colours in water polo. He holds a degree in

Physical Science Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together called the "physical sciences". Definition Physi ...

from

University of Colombo (Buddhih Sarvatra Bhrajate) , mottoeng = ''Wisdom Enlightens'' , established = , endowment = Sri Lankan rupee, LKR 1.461 1,000,000,000 (number), billion

. Mubarak was initially spotted at a

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

training camp in

Dambulla Dambulla ( si, දඹුල්ල ''Dam̆bulla'', ta, தம்புள்ளை ''Tampuḷḷai'') is a town situated in the north of Matale District, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It is the second largest populated and urbanised centre aft ...

by former players Arjuna Ranatunga and

Aravinda de Silva Deshabandu Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva ( si, අරවින්ද ද සිල්වා; born 17 October 1965) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and captain, who has also played in English county cricket. de Silva helped Sri Lanka to win the ...

, and subsequently labeled one of the brightest future stars of Sri Lankan cricket,. Mubarak started his sporting career as a swimmer and then became a cricketer. He swam for

Royal College A royal college in some Commonwealth countries is technically a college which has received royal patronage and permission to use the prefix ''royal''. Permission is usually granted through a royal charter. The charter normally confers a constitut ...

and competed at National Level swimming competitions by representing his alma-mater. Mubarak specialized in short-distance swimming and won the national championship in 50 meter

butterfly stroke The butterfly (colloquially shortened to fly) is a List of swimming styles, swimming stroke swum on the chest, with both arms moving symmetrically, accompanied by the butterfly kick (also known as the "dolphin kick"). While other styles like ...

. In 2006–2007 Jehan swam for

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

National Swimming meet and after finishing his semi-final heat he opt out from final event to participate in Sri Lanka national cricket team practice. Mubarak also led the

Water Polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

team during his time at

. Mubarak was involved in an accident on 22 April 2012 while driving back from

Wilpattu National Park Wilpattu National Park (''Willu-pattu'', "Land of Lakes") is a national park in Sri Lanka. The unique feature of this park is the existence of "Willus" (natural lakes) – natural, sand-rimmed water basins or depressions that fill with rainwater. ...

; he was arrested and later acquitted as the result of a head-on collision which killed a motorcyclist.

Domestic career

After being a prolific run scorer in school yard cricket, though only playing a handful of first class games, Mubarak was eliciting comparisons to

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

cricket icon

Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He topped the Test batting rankings on several occasions and holds several cricketing reco ...

for not only his graceful

batting Batting may refer to: * Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs * Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...

style but also for his ability against spinners. He made his

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

debut on 17 August 2004, for

Colombo Cricket Club The Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) is a first-class cricket club in Sri Lanka. It is the oldest in the country, having been formed in 1863, and is headquartered at 31 Maitland Crescent, Colombo 7, close to the headquarters of Sri Lanka Cricket. Hi ...

in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. In July 2009, Mubarak was selected to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

the Sri Lanka Board XI against India. In August 2009, he scored 160 for Sri Lanka A against Pakistan A and in September 2009 he captained and guided Sri Lankan

domestic Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes c ...

champions Wayamba to the Champions League in India.

International career

Debut

In July 2002 he made his Test debut against Bangladesh, and in November 2002 he made his ODI debut against South Africa and participated in the 2003 World Cup hosted by South Africa. After his debut

Ranjit Fernando Edward Ranjit Fernando (born 22 February 1944) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played three ODIs, all of which were during the 1975 Cricket World Cup during which he was the wicket-keeper and opening batsman. In September 2018, he was one o ...

stated on air that Mubarak's batting was "poetry in motion" and that he should be given more responsibility in order to improve the professionalism of the

Sri Lankan cricket team The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික ක්‍රිකට් කණ්ඩායම, ta, இலங்கை தேசிய கிரிக்கெட் அணி) nicknamed The Lions ...

Decline

In June 2005 however, three years after his debut he had failed to live up to initial expectations and was looked over for selection and has been given limited opportunities since. In February 2006, he was fined after showing dissent towards an umpire in an ODI against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Re-emergence

In August 2007 he was rushed into the Sri Lankan

squad following the departures of

Marvan Atapattu Deshabandu Marvan Samson Atapattu (born 22 November 1970) is a Sri Lankan cricket coach and former cricketer who played for 17 years for Sri Lanka. Considered one of the most technically sound batsman in his era, Atapattu has scored six double ...

and

Russel Arnold Russel Premakumaran Arnold ( Tamil: ரசல் பிரேமகுமரன் ஆனோல்ட், born 25 October 1973), or Russel Arnold, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer of Tamil descent, who played all forms of the game. He played ...

, following

man-of-the-match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

performances against Bangladesh. He performed admirably during this tournament which included a 13-ball 46 against Kenya, where the team recorded highest ever twenty20 international team total by posting 260/6, which stood for 9 years until Australia beat the record. In September 2007 Mubarak subsequently re-called back into the ODI squad and Sri Lankan

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

team against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In September 2008 Mubarak performed well all-round against

Hong-Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

playing for the Sri Lankan Development XI. In May 2009 Mubarak was selected as one of the overseas players of Brothers Union Chittagong for their campaign in the Habib Group Port City Cricket League (PCL) tournament being held in Chittagong, Bangladesh between 2 and 10 May 2009.

Late career

Many commentators remarked that he had previously been treated unfairly and never given an extended run in the Sri Lankan team, and this along with the enormous burden placed on him in his youth was the main reason behind his lack of consistency. Cricket loving public feels he has been given more opportunities than others as he is from the same school as the Chief selector Asantha De Mel. Asantha De Mel was replaced by Aravinda De Silva in 2010. Mubarak has also been touted as a future

due to his handling of his team Wayamba and of the media during the Champions League in India. In 2015, he is slated for a test recall for his fielding abilities by

Jonty Rhodes Jonathan Neil "Jonty" Rhodes (born 27 July 1969) is a South African professional cricket commentator and former Test and One Day International cricketer. He is regarded as one of the greatest fielders of all time and was the first South African ...

due to his long reach. Mubarak played his first test after 8 years due to back to back thousand runs in domestic seasons. He played third test in Pakistan series for Sangakkara's place and made good contribution in batting with skipper

Angelo Mathews Angelo Davis Mathews, (Tamil: அஞ்செலோ மத்தியூஸ்; born 2 June 1987) is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and a former captain in all formats. Even though he represented Sri Lanka in all three formats, Mathews cur ...

in the second innings. But, Sri Lanka couldn't win the match and lost it by 6 wickets.

National records

Jehan Mubarak has the highest ever strike rate (353.84) in a T20I match for Sri Lanka, set when he made 46 not out off 13 balls against

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

in the

2007 World T20 The 2007 ICC World Twenty20 was the inaugural Twenty20 International cricket world championship, contested in South Africa from 11 to 24 September 2007. Twelve teams took part in the thirteen-day tournament—the ten Test-playing nations and the ...

Commentator

Jehan Mubarak made his commentary debut during the test series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mubarak, Jehan Sri Lankan cricketers 1981 births Living people Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers Cricketers at the 2010 Asian Games Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of the University of Colombo Khulna Royal Bengals cricketers Colombo Cricket Club cricketers Wayamba cricketers Kandurata cricketers Sri Lankan Muslims Sportspeople from Washington, D.C. Hambantota Troopers cricketers Southern Express cricketers Asian Games competitors for Sri Lanka