From Glasgow parks to World Cup squad: Zainullah Ihsan's Scotland journey

Zainullah Ihsan was still figuring out daily life, in a new country, when he learnt he was going to be part of Scotland's T20 World Cup squad. Selected without playing any senior international cricket, he has got all his team-mates rooting for him already.

Ihsan, 19, arrived in Scotland in 2022 from Afghanistan as an unaccompanied asylum seeker, travelling arduously through Asia to Europe, before receiving refugee status in Scotland.

Now in a happier place, Ihsan doesn't want to talk about his days in Afghanistan, but he says he enjoyed evenings of tape-ball cricket with friends back home. He could hit the ball well, but mainly he was a seam bowler.

So when he saw a game of cricket being played in Glasgow, he couldn't resist. That started a quick rise into the national set-up.

"I first went to a park with my elder brother," Ihsan, the right-arm seamer, said on the sidelines of the T20 World Cup in Kolkata. "I played cricket with my brother's friends that day. They told me that I was a good player and that I should join the GHK club.

"When I went to the club, the coach told me to have a bowl. He liked it and told me to come for our next T20 game. When I bowled well in that game, they gave me membership of the club for free. They didn't take any money."

From there, the numbers began to stack up. He says he took 16 wickets in four matches that season. The following season brought 28 wickets across in 13 games. This year, he says his 27 wickets were the most in Scottish league cricket this season.

As a 17-year-old, Ihsan was selected for Scotland Under19s in 2024, playing four games in Loughborough against England U19 and Ireland U19. Apart from league cricket, those matches formed the bulk of his experience before he found himself training for a World Cup, including appearances in warm-up matches in Bengaluru. Even so, the World Cup call was unexpected.

"I didn't expect that I would be selected in the World Cup," Ihsan said. "I have never played in the national team, and I hadn't even played the Europe qualifiers. I was shocked. I couldn't say anything. I could only say thank you so much."

Those inside the setup, however, see his value in T20s. Scotland assistant coach Gordon Drummond, a former national captain, has been particularly impressed by Ihsan's ability to swing the new ball and his range at the death with yorkers, slower balls and the confidence to use the bouncer, skills that translate quickly to the shortest format.

Ihsan models his bowling on swing specialists. He studies Mohammad Asif on YouTube "for his inswing and outswing." He has also leaned from Afghanistan's Hameed Hassan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, and Azmatullah Omarzai. A meeting with Rashid Khan is one of his favourite cricket moments.

Inside the Scotland team, his team-mates are "his family" and his cricketing allegiances are clear.

"All of my team-mates helped when I didn't understand the language," he said. "Everyone helps me. Everyone is friendly. Everyone, like Brandon McMullen, Mark Watt, everyone. When I'm not understanding the language, they explain it to me in other ways.

"I live in Scotland. I eat here. Everything of mine is here. It's my country now. Obviously, I respect Afghanistan. It's my country too. But now I live in Scotland."

Beyond cricket, Ihsan is attending college in Glasgow, studying English and supporting Celtic in the football league. He chats with his family in Afghanistan occasionally, telling them about his cricket progress, including a white lie or two in his younger days so that they wouldn't be angry at him for playing a sport.

Today, his family is proud of his achievements and he's also become a feel-good story in Glasgow. Among the South Asian community, he has become a role model for youngsters.

Ihsan is stacking up wins in his life, and a debut is imminent for Scotland soon. Ihsan will hope it comes in the World Cup itself.

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