With a Chinese mother and father of Pakistani origin, Aslan Ali Xi Jafri will represent Singapore in more than one way when he steps onto Thailand’s soil for his Southeast Asian (SEA) Games debut this December.
The 18-year-old exemplifies both the melting pot of cultures that Singapore prides itself on and the burgeoning cricketing talent disproportionate to its geographical size.
Aslan’s father Hasan Jafri and mother Lisa Kong, both veteran journalists, have been instrumental in his journey.
“My dad is an avid fan of cricket, and I got a lot of my dad’s traits. Growing up, I played cricket with my dad in our backyard. He came for my U-16, U-19 debuts. He will be in Thailand for my SEA Games debut too,” Aslan said.
His mother joins in the fun, throwing tennis balls to Aslan at times.
“My mom encourages me, cooks me great meals and helps me recover. It’s always good to have someone reminding you that everything is okay,” Aslan shared.
Aslan’s elder sister Sara is also athletically inclined and even ran a half-marathon recently to raise funds for breast cancer research.
At 11, Aslan enrolled in coaching at the Singapore Cricket Club Cricket Academy. Playing for St Patrick’s School, Aslan captained the school team to their first podium placing (third place) in five years in 2022. In 2023, he captained his team to third place.
One tough pill to swallow was being overlooked for the U-19 tournament in late 2023, especially as he had had a decent U-16 tournament. “But I just kept my head down and worked even harder from then on. It was a blessing in disguise,” he said.
That hunger powered him to his men’s team debut against Bahrain in March, soon after which, the U-19 spot became his.
Although one of the youngest in the squad, Aslan is unfazed by the task lying ahead. The all-rounder, who bats left-hand and bowls slow left arm orthodox, said: “At the SEA games, everyone is going to give their 100 per cent.”
Debuting alongside him will be Sai Harsha Venugopal, 23, and Pranav Sudarshan Rajesh Krishnan, 22, who have played together in the same U-16 and U-19 squads.
A stocky wicketkeeper-batsman who can bowl as well, Harsha showed his potential even in the U-19 days, when he opened the batting and topscored with 64 against Malaysia U-19.
He made his T20I men’s debut against Malaysia in April this year, where he took four catches. A highlight since then has been his quickfire 46 not out off 28 against Hong Kong in July.
Harsha is studying a double degree in computer science and business at Nanyang Technological University whereas Pranav Sudarshan is studying Economics at Singapore Management University.
Pranav Sudarshan is a pace bowling all-rounder who opens the bowling for the national side. His T20I men’s debut was against Bahrain in February, in a 5-match series in Singapore, where he scalped the two crucial wickets of the Bahraini captain and a half-centurion.
In his recent two outings against Malaysia, he took two and three wickets respectively. He used to captain Global Indian International School’s Cricket team. His elder brother Aditya Sudarshan used to play in the men’s team for Singapore as well.
The debutants need not look too far for inspiration. Captain Rezza Gaznavi, a new dad, made it to training even on the day his daughter was born (Nov 4). Coach Amjad Mahboob captained the side to Gold in T6 at the 2023 SEA Games. Team manager Chetan Suryawanshi, Rajesh Chauhan from the coaching team and high performance expert Dr Jatin Maheshwari lend strong support.
Cricket at the SEA Games this time around will only see the T10 and T20 formats.
Singapore will be sending a 15-strong squad for the men’s T10 and T20. It will be a round-robin tournament with no semis or finals. The topper of the table will take home the gold.
The matches will be played at the Terdthai Cricket Ground - “a good batting wicket”, and the Asian Institute of Technology Ground - “a slower wicket which will suit the spinners”, says Chetan.
Squad: Rezza Gaznavi (c), Aman Desai, Aslan Jafri, Daksh Tyagi, Girin Gune, Ishaan Sawney, Kannusami Sathish, Vedant Nagpaul, Raoul Sharma, Sai Harsha Venugopal, Anish Paraam, Pranav Sudarshan, Neil Karnik, Mahiyu Bhatia
Additional reporting by: Vinoth K
