Shahbaz Ahmed (born 11 December 1994) is an Indian international

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who plays for the

Indian cricket team The India men's national cricket team, also known as Men in Blue, represents India in international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India and is a full member nation of the International Cricket Council with T ...

. He made his international debut on 9 October 2022. He plays for

Lucknow Super Giants The Lucknow Super Giants, also known as LSG, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by Sanjiv Goenka of the RPSG Group. Ekana Cricket ...

in the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

and

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

in domestic cricket. He is a bowling all-rounder who bats left-handed. In August 2022, Shahbaz was named as a replacement for injured

Washington Sundar Washington Sundar (; born 5 October 1999) is an Indian international cricketer. An all-rounder who bats left-handed and bowls right-arm off-spin, he plays for Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket and Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League. He mad ...

in India's ODI squad for their tour against

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. In October 2022, he was named in India's ODI squad, for their series against South Africa. He made his ODI debut on 9 October 2022 against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. He made his T20I debut on 6 October 2023 against Bangladesh.

Early and personal life

Shahbaz Ahmed was born on 11 December 1994 in the

Nuh district Nuh district, formerly known as the Mewat district, is one of the 22 districts of the northern Indian state of Haryana. The district is known for having the largest Muslim population in Haryana. It lies within the National Capital Region as wel ...

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

. He is the son of Ahmed Jan, a clerk in the sub-divisional magistrate's office of Haryana's Nuh district, and Abnam Ahmed, a housewife. Shahbaz was a brilliant student with 80% in Class 10 and 88% in Class 12. Much to the chagrin of his parents, Shahbaz decided to drop out of his engineering studies to pursue his cricket career. Shahbaz later completed his B.Tech. degree during the Covid lockdown in India. Once he had taken the decision of pursuing cricket as a career, with his parents' permission Shahbaz shifted to

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

where he stayed in a small room with three fellow cricketers, while earning a livelihood by washing utensils. Shahbaz started playing cricket in the second division in Kolkata, where he was introduced to his coach Partha Pratim Chowdhury by a first class cricketer Pramod Chandila. With the help of Partha he got into Tapan Memorial Club, a cricket academy in Kolkata and started living with Partha's family. Shahbaz's performances caught the eye of the then Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary who took him under his wings and found a mentor in

Coach

Arun Lal Jagdishlal Arun Lal (; born 1 August 1955) is a retired Indian cricketer, and a cricket commentator. He played for India, as a right-handed batsman, between 1982 and 1989 was a gritty player. His columns about cricket analysis regularly appe ...

. He became Bengal's crisis man and was instrumental in them reaching the finals of 2019-20 Ranji Trophy earning him the nickname Jaanbaaz.

Domestic career

Shahbaz made his

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

debut for

in the

2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy The 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy was the 26th edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, an annual List A cricket tournament in India. Karnataka were the defending champions. It was contested by 37 domestic cricket teams of India, starting on 19 Se ...

on 20 September 2018 against Jammu and Kashmir team at Chennai. He returned with figures of 1/22 in his debut match. During his maiden first-class cap versus Hyderabad, he scored 27 runs and picked one wicket. He made his

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

debut for Bengal in the

2018–19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy The 2018–19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy was the eleventh edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, an annual Twenty20 tournament in India. Played from 24 March to 7 April 2015, it was contested by 37 Ranji Trophy teams, including the nine expansion ...

on 24 February 2019 against Haryana at Cuttack and picked one wicket again besides contributing a vital 12-ball 17 in the lower order that eventually helped his team win the match by three wickets. So far, Shahbaz has played 13 first-class matches, scoring 559 runs, including four half-centuries, taking 37 first-class wickets at an economy rate of 2.60. In List-A cricket, he has scored 435 runs in 16 innings at an average of 39.54. He has 18 List-A wickets to his name, with his best figures of 3/35. In T20 cricket, he has taken 21 wickets in 23 innings at an economy rate of 6.84 and has recorded one fifty. In January 2021, against Hyderabad, he became the seventh player from Bengal and first since India pacer

Mohammed Shami Mohammed Shami (; born 3 September 1990) is an Indian international cricketer who plays as a right-arm fast bowling, fast-bowler, for the India national cricket team and for the Bengal cricket team, Bengal in domestic cricket and for the Sunrise ...

to claim a Ranji Trophy hat-trick. In October 2019, he was named in

India A The India A cricket team is a national cricket team representing second-tier cricket of India national cricket team. The matches played by India A receive first-class and List A classification. It is a developmental team, domestic players who ar ...

's squad for the

2019–20 Deodhar Trophy The 2019–20 Deodhar Trophy was the 47th edition of the Deodhar Trophy, a List A cricket competition in India. It was contested between three teams selected by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). It took place in October and Nove ...

Indian Premier League

In the 2020 IPL auction, he was bought by the

Royal Challengers Bangalore The Royal Challengers Bengaluru, formerly Royal Challengers Bangalore, also known as RCB, are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 ...

ahead of the

2020 Indian Premier League The 2020 Indian Premier League (also known as IPL 13 and branded as Dream11 Indian Premier League 2020) was the thirteenth season of the Indian Premier League, a professional Twenty20 cricket (T20) league established by the Board of Control for ...

. He made his debut in the IPL against

Rajasthan Royals The Rajasthan Royals, also known as RR, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Jaipur, Rajasthan, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 as one of the initial eight franchises, the team is owned by Manoj ...

, during the 33rd match of

. Shahbaz went wicketless and conceded 18 runs. Throughout the season, he took a couple of wickets in as many games he played with an economy rate of 7.33. In April 2021, Shahbaz took three wickets in one over against the

Sunrisers Hyderabad The Sunrisers Hyderabad, also known as SRH, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Hyderabad, Telangana, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by Kalanithi Maran of the Sun Group and was found ...

during the sixth match of

2021 Indian Premier League The 2021 Indian Premier League (also known as IPL 14, or for sponsorship reasons, VIVO IPL 2021) was the fourteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricke ...

, which was eventually won by his team. His performances earned praise from a section of critics. During the second phase of the tournament, against Rajasthan he took a brace for 10 runs. In February 2022, he was bought by the

in the

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for the

2022 Indian Premier League The 2022 Indian Premier League (also known as IPL 15 or for sponsorship reasons, TATA IPL 2022) was the fifteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket ...

tournament. In November 2023, he was traded to

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed, Shahbaz 1994 births Living people Indian cricketers India One Day International cricketers India Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century Indian sportsmen Bengal cricketers Cricketers from Haryana Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricketers Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers Asian Games medalists in cricket Cricketers at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for India Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games Meo people People from Nuh district Lucknow Super Giants cricketers