The man who got Joe Root with a ‘Jafer’
Jafer Chohan is a leg-spinner who has joined Yorkshire on a one-year rookie contract ahead of 2023, his moved sparked by an impressive showing in an England net session whilst bowling to Joe Root at Loughborough.
Chohan, 20, is a second-year student – he is studying International Relations – at Loughborough University, where the ECB National Performance Centre is based. He dismissed Root and Ben Duckett and has also spent time at Adil Rashid’s own cricket centre.
Root made the recommendation to the Yorkshire coaching staff, who offered the Londoner a trial and followed through with the offer of a contract.
After time on the Middlesex Academy, Chohan has had trials with a number of counties and was reportedly interesting Worcestershire as Yorkshire made their move.
He has been playing his cricket most recently for the South Asian Cricket Academy, playing against county second teams, as well as in the National Counties competition for Berkshire. In 20 appearances for both sides in 2022, he claimed 22 wickets in 20 appearances as well as hitting a top-score of 48 in the lower middle order. Berkshire won the National Counties 50-over title.
Chohan, who has Pakistani heritage, says he has modelled his style of leg-spin bowling on Shahid Afridi and is not dissimilar to Anil Kumble in the way he bowls.
