Rising Stars

Sohaib Maqsood has already been dubbed as the next Inzamamul Haq.

Looking at the Pakistan cricket team’s topsy-turvy ride over the past year, one of the highlights would definitely be the inclusion of talented Sohaib Maqsood in the limited overs squad.

Maqsood is a right-handed middle-order batsman, and one thing that catches the attention is the confident way in which he faces every delivery as well as his shot timing and selection. He was also a member of the Pakistan Under-19 squad, while his first-class record speaks for itself.

The most impressive feat was his consistency in the local circuit, which finally paid off as he became the leading run-scorer in domestic one-day cricket in the 2012-13 season, amassing 944 runs at an outstanding average of 78. As a result, he was subsequently included in the national team.

Already being dubbed as the next Inzamamul Haq, Maqsood – who also hails from Multan – is a real promising prospect from whom we can expect many big things in the future.

Mohammad Tousiq

While Pakistan’s hockey team might not have enjoyed a successful year, we can still take some positives from its performances.

One of these positives is the national team’s 20-year-old centre-half Mohammad Tousiq Arshad.

He won many laurels throughout 2013 — voted the best player of the tournament in the Asian Champions Trophy, top scorer with eight goals in the tour of Europe, five goals in the Asia Cup, just to name a few.

In all these tournaments, Tousiq played an important role and was one of the pivots of the team. He has the talent to become a potent drag flicker and has already showed his quality at penalty corner conversion. Provided he is given the right guidance, he can definitely become one of the players to watch out for in 2014.

Moizullah Baig

Considering the pool of talented scrabble players Pakistan has produced in recent years, it is no wonder that another one would come along and prove that our players are easily among the top in the world.

For Pakistan, this came in the form of Moizullah Baig, a 16-year-old studying at the DJ Science College in Karachi. Baig enjoyed a consistent year in 2013, giving impressive performances in Thailand and Malaysia, and then finishing third at the National Ranking Tournament.

However, the icing on the cake came when Baig clinched the World Youth Scrabble Championship 2013 title in Dubai in December. He finished top among 135 players and also helped Pakistan finish the event as the top team among 17 countries.

There is no doubt Baig has the potential, and if he continues to perform at this level then we can expect a lot more from him in the years to come.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2013.

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