Shakib and Rashid: Stars of Dehradun

With hardly any cricketing activity in Dehradun till now, the ongoing international cricket series between Bangladesh and Afghanistan has created some buzz in the capital of Uttarakhand state over the past few days.

There is no state team here in Uttarakhand, not even any cricket association, but the people of Dehradun are now talking about cricket and Bangladesh and Afghanistan players.

The two stand-out names have been Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan. In terms of popularity most here put the Tigers all-rounder ahead of the top-ranked T20I bowler.

Both Shakib and Rashid have featured in the Indian Premier League for the same team -- Sunrisers Hyderabad -- and have become household names compared to the other cricketers of either side.

"Although we have never witnessed any international cricket match here in Dehradun until this series but we do follow the IPL regularly. I have seen Shakibul [Shakib Al Hasan] for a long time now and he has been terrific with both bat and ball since playing for Kolkata Knight Riders. On the other hand, recently this spinner from Afghanistan, Rashid, has been doing really well but he has just started and still has a long way to go," said auto-rickshaw driver Vikas Khurana yesterday.

With Dehradun being their makeshift home ground, there has been some interest in Afghanistan cricketers, but apart from Rashid few here know the names of more than two or three Afghanistan players.

"I only know there is a leg-spinner [Rashid Khan] who played for Hyderabad in the IPL. I have no idea about the other players of Afghanistan but they have really played well to beat Bangladesh in the first game. I think you have quite a few very good players like your captain Shakib and that other short-build player Mushfiqur Rahim, and that lefty opener Tamim [Iqbal]," said Pankaj Bhatia, a shop owner the Rajpur Road.