Under the floodlights of Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on a Saturday evening, Pakistan faced a familiar threat of a batting collapse in the final of the One-Day International tri-nation cricket series against Sri Lanka. With five wickets down and 125 runs required from 79 deliveries, 21-year-old all-rounder Arafat Minhas stepped to the crease alongside Hasan Nawaz.
Having gone wicketless during Sri Lanka’s innings, Minhas showed little hesitation under mounting pressure. With Pakistan needing 39 runs from 27 balls, Sri Lankan bowler Dasun Shanaka delivered a length ball angled into the batter. Minhas swung across the line, launching the ball over midwicket for a six that electrified the home crowd. He followed up with four more sixes, finishing unbeaten with 61 runs off 31 deliveries to secure the trophy and earn player of the series honors. He concluded the tournament with 149 runs and nine wickets.
Months earlier in Rawalpindi on October 10, Minhas delivered a defining performance against England. After scoring 59 off 58 balls to help Pakistan recover from 81-4 to post 302-9, he claimed six wickets for 40 runs, bowling out England for 215 and securing an 87-run victory. His victims included England captain Harry Brook, who was bowled for five. The performance made Minhas only the third Pakistani player to score a half-century and take five wickets in a men’s ODI, following Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq. Earlier in May, on his ODI debut against Australia, he took 5-32 to become the first Pakistani to claim a five-wicket haul on debut.
Minhas’s development was shaped largely by his father, Kashif, a former under-19 cricketer from Multan who was pressed by his own father to abandon the sport to run the family car showroom business. Observing natural athletic ability in his sons, Kashif equipped them with full gear and, during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns in 2020, constructed a rooftop practice facility complete with a net, mat pitch, and floodlights to ensure training continued uninterrupted. Minhas progressed through the country’s under-16 and under-19 ranks, featuring prominently in Pakistan’s run to the semifinals of the 2024 ICC Under-19 World Cup before making a seamless transition to the senior squad.
Cricket talent runs deep in the family. Younger brother Sameer, a prodigious right-handed opening batter, was recently named to Pakistan’s Test squad for a two-match series against Sri Lanka after scoring 405 runs in seven first-class matches. The youngest brother, Abdullah, also plays as a left-handed batter and leg-spinner. Kashif’s overarching ambition is to see all three brothers represent Pakistan together in an international playing XI and capture an ICC trophy, fulfilling the athletic potential he was forced to set aside years ago.
