HYDERABAD: It all started with empty plastic bottles and a soft ball in the backyard of their home in the Netherlands many years ago. The four brothers including the triplet of Saqib, Asad and Sikander, and the eldest of them Rehmat used to play with their father Zulfiqar Ahmed, a cricketer who had shifted from Sialkot in Pakistan to Netherlands and went on to play nine List A matches for the Dutch and Voorburg CC.
"My father used to play very high-level cricket in Pakistan when he moved to the Netherlands for work. He played matches for the Dutch team as well. And he always took us to the matches he played on the weekend and that's where we started taking cricket more seriously," Saqib, who made his World Cup debut in the Netherlands' opening match against Pakistan here at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad, told this daily.
It was Sikander, who first made his international debut when he featured in a T20I match for Netherlands against the UAE in 2016. Overall, he has played 11 T20Is for the team so far with the last being in August 2019. Saqib made his international debut three year years later when he played against Ireland in Rotterdam in June 2019. A month later, he played his maiden ODI.
Despite starting late, currently he is the most experienced international cricketer in the Zulfiqar family with 14 ODIs and six T20Is under his belt till Netherlands' World Cup opener.
While all in the Zulfiqar family are right-hand batters, their bowling styles are completely different from each other. The father is a right-arm medium pacer and so is Sikander. Saqib bowls legbreak while Asad is a right-arm off-break bowler. So how did it happen?
"We started playing cricket with an empty Coke bottle. After that, we always played in the garden with the three of us and my older brother. And there we all tried different bowling styles and then we stuck with that."
It was a dream come true for the family when Saqib made his World Cup debut with the head of the family, Zulfiqar, being the happiest of them all.
"Obviously my family is very proud of me as it was a dream to play a cricket World Cup, especially in India. My father always coached us so that is extra special for him to see me play at the highest level," an elated 26-year-old Saqib said.
However, none of the family is in India to watch Saqib from the stands. "Unfortunately not (Visit to India). I am happy to be at the World Cup and they are as well. We always support each other in our cricket wherever we are and I know my family is supporting me and the team all the way now."
The triplets made history when they played together for the Orange in July 2017 against the UAE. Saqib still remembers the day and holds it as a special moment for them all.
"It was a very special day for us because we have always trained and played cricket together from a very young age. To play an international match where we all played together was very unique and special."
He loves the Afghanistan star spinner Rashid Khan, considering him a special bowler and a match-winner. Speaking on the wickets he would love to claim during the showpiece event, he said, "I would like to claim wickets of Babar Azam and Virat Kohli." For the record, he was the one who caught Babar off Colin Ackermann reducing Pakistan to 38/3 the other day.
Saqib strongly believes his team can do something special in the World Cup. "Our goal is to reach the semifinals, and I have confidence in the group. We have to be at our best to do that but we can do that," he signed off.