'Hardik Pandya kept in touch, motivated me' - Afghanistan's mystery spinner hopes to be retained by Mumbai Indians

AM Ghazanfar, Afghanistan's 19-year-old spin prodigy, shares his views on going through a demanding year and looks ahead to potential retention by the Mumbai Indians (MI) for the 2026 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Ghazanfar started a bidding war during the IPL 2025 mega-auction, with MI battling it out with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to acquire the teenager's services. In the end, he was signed by the five-time champions for a whopping INR 4.8 crore.

Ghazanfar had not made his T20I debut back then. However, just ahead of IPL 2025, the tweaker sustained a fracture in the lower back and was ruled out of the tournament.

The Paktia-born, who was a part of KKR in IPL 2024, has gone on to represent Afghanistan in all three formats in the last 12 months. He is hoping to be retained by MI ahead of the mini-auction, which is set to be held in December. Ghazanfar revealed that MI skipper Hardik Pandya and batter Tilak Varma have been in touch with him.

Despite the injury, Hardik bhai stayed in touch and motivated me a lot. I also had long chats with Tilak about the game. I hope Hardik bhai is my captain again this season,” Ghazanfar, who will be in action during the Asia Cup Rising Stars tournament, was quoted as saying by India Today.

Ghazanfar, who has been playing franchise leagues around the world alongside international cricket, admitted that the heavy workload has pushed his body to the limit.

“I played a lot of cricket back to back, almost seven to eight tournaments. When the Test came, my body wasn’t ready for the extra load. Now I’ve fully recovered and become a lot wiser,” he said.

During his stint with KKR, Ghazanfar recalled meeting Ravichandran Ashwin, one of the spinners he has modelled himself on.

“He shared valuable experience. IPL teaches you to perform under extreme pressure even if you don’t play,” he said.

The deadline for announcing retentions is November 15. It will be interesting to see whether MI decides to retain Ghazanfar for IPL 2026.