Syed Najaf Hussain Shah (born 17 December 1984) is an international cricketer from Pakistan who now plays for Rawalpindi region and

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation. It ...

and various international franchise leagues. He has played his first

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

game against

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 ...

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

in 2007. He is left-arm medium-fast bowler with ability to bat lower order. He has played 134 first-class cricket matches and taken over 477 wickets, with a career best of 7 for 57 for

against

National Bank of Pakistan National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) () is a Pakistani government-owned multinational commercial bank which is a subsidiary of State Bank of Pakistan. It is headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan. As of September 2020, it has 1,511 branches across Pakist ...

in the semi-final of the Patron's Trophy in 2004-05.Currently living in Dallas Texas USA

Early & Personal life

Najaf belongs to Gujar Khan. He started his earlier career at school level with taped tennis ball, it is quite normal in this part of world to start with tape/tennis ball rather than full cricket gear. Through initial school competitions he was spotted to be high potential talent. After completion of school education he took admission in Sarwar Shaheed College in intermediate level. He was selected captain of college cricket team, under his captaincy college’s team won some major tournaments. In 2000-01 he moved to Rawalpindi from Gujar Khan for higher education. After moving to Rawalpindi he joined Gull Cricket Club and that was a turning point of his career and started cricket as a professional

Playing career

Pakistan National Domestic Matches

Najaf Shah has been playing

First-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

since 2001. He has played for various teams but his major teams are Rawalpindi region and

. He has contributed to PIA and Rawalpindi cricket team success and his performances over the years helped the teams to win some of the major domestic championships title. In February 2003, PIA won the championship title against Khan Research Laboratories cricket team, in final match Najaf grabbed 5 wickets, again In 2004 /2005 ABN-AMRO trophy PIA shared championship title with HBL in rain effected final match and Najaf was declared best bowler of the tournament. 2014/15 season was also a good season for him, he was declared best bowler of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy grabbing up 42 wickets in 8 matches with the best Avg 15.19 per wicket

International Matches & Tours

Najaf's international career started through ICC Under-17 Asia cup, it was played in Pakistan during 2000/2001 cricket season then he played for Pakistan U-19 and Pakistan A for few years. In 2007, he was selected for Pakistan cricket Academy team to tour

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 ...

for tri series tournament involving Bangladesh and Sri Lanka teams. This tour was helped him to make a strong case for national selectors he took 9 wicket in 4 One day matches in the tri series most by any bowler and then 16 wickets in two four day matches against Bangla Dash again most by any bowler and Pakistan Academy team won both matches team.

International Cricket Leagues & Tournaments

Other Contributions

Cricket talent selection duties, Najaf has been supporting regional selection committee to find fast bowlers for region and Pakistan

TV cricket analyst

Najaf is also well known cricket analyst in Pakistan, he is currently signed by

Pakistan Television Corporation Pakistan Television Corporation ( ur, ; reporting name: PTV) is the Pakistani state-owned broadcaster. Pakistan entered the television broadcasting age in 1964, with a pilot television station established at Lahore. Background Historical co ...

and

Kay2 TV KAY2 TV is Pakistan's first multi-lingual television channel. Though established on August 7, 2008 yet it started its regular transmission in March 2010. It is a leading creator and producer of entertainment contents for its viewers. This conte ...

to cover major cricket events. Recently he has covered

Pakistan Super League The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league contested during February and March of every year by six teams representing six cities of Pakistan. The league was founded on 9 September 2015 with five teams by the Paki ...

but in past he has been covering ICC tournaments

Awards & Records

*Man Of The Match of final and Highest Wicket Taker of the Liberty Cup Chicago 2017 *Best bowler of US OPEN T20 tournament in Florida 2016 *Player of the match against Florida Strikers in US OPEN T20 Tournament 2016 *Best bowler of QUAID-E- AZAM trophy 2014/15(National Tournament) *Player Of the match against PTV in departmental T20 tournament 2013/14(National Tournament) *Player of the match against Rawalpindi Rams in ABN-AMRO Cup 2007-08(National Tournament) *Best bowler of Patrons Trophy 2004/05(National Tournament) *Player of the match against Nepal In ICC U-17 Asia Cup 2000/2001

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Najaf 1984 births Living people Rawalpindi cricketers Pakistani cricketers Pakistan One Day International cricketers Pakistan International Airlines cricketers Rawalpindi Rams cricketers Quetta cricketers Punjab (Pakistan) cricketers People from Gujar Khan