Kolkata Knight Riders sign 6′10 giant Pak fast bowler on Akram’s recommendation

KOLKATA/LAHORE - Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has signed the 6′10 giant Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Irfan on the recommendation of team’s bowling coach Wasim Akram.

Addressing the media at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, Irfan said that he was signed after the IPL franchise held some trials.

“Since I’m a left-armer myself, Wasim has always been my hero. I couldn’t believe it when he came up to me and began to praise me. It felt quite surreal, almost dreamlike, but luckily for me it was really happening,” Cricistan.com quoted Irfan, as saying.

“At first Wasim bhai gave me some advice about my game telling me that he thought I could improve on a few things. But then he suddenly told me that he wanted me to try out for the Kolkata Knight Riders, he didn’t promise anything. He just said that he thought I was good enough and if I impressed in the trials then I would be in with a good chance of getting signed by Kolkata,” he added.

The 27-year-old further said that he was invited by KKR for a tour of Sri Lanka, which was held between July 25 and August 5.

“A few weeks later I was told that I would be joining KKR for a tour of Sri Lanka. It was a low-key tour where we would play some games against club sides,”

“Everyone at KKR was very good to me and I had a great time on the tour. None of the standard kits fitted me so they had to do some stitching for me,” he added. (ANI)