Promising Cricketer From J&K Among 4 Killed in Handwara Firing

Young cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir shot dead by the Indian Army in Kashmir.

Nayeem (left) was shot dead on Tuesday. (Photo: Twitter/Gowhar Bhat)

An 18-year-old promising cricketer Nayeem Qadir Bhatt, who represented Jammu and Kashmir, was unfortunately shot dead during a demonstration in Handwara on Tuesday.

Nayeen was one of the three civilians killed when the security forces fired at a protest that erupted in the Kashmiri town against the alleged molestation bid a solider.

According to a report in the ESPN CricInfo, Nayeen last year captained the Jammu and Kashmir team in the National School Championship in Delhi while he played for Kashmir Gymkhana, a Srinagar-based club, and in the Downtown Champions League, a T20 competition in the Kashmir Valley.

He was fondly called as Martin Guptill by his friends while his father Ghulam Qadir called him “the Gavaskar of Kashmir”.

“He was so happy to have batted once alongside Indian cricketers Suresh Raina and Parveez Rasool,” said his brother Zahoor. He was the first cricketer selected for Under-19 cricket coaching camp from the northern district of Kupwara.

Nayeen passed class 12 last year and had recently secured admission in a physiotherapy college in Dehradun and was about to leave in the coming days.