ISLAMABAD: Former Australia coach John Buchanan once foresaw the future of cricket. “It will be ambidextrous,” he had said in 2009.

Seven years on, names like Kamindu Mendis, the Sri Lankan under-19 World Cupper and India’s 23-year-old from Vidharbha, Akshay Karnewar are proving him right.

But both were spinners.

What Pakistan unveiled to the world on Wednesday is a breed of its own kind: a fast bowler who can bowl at speeds in excess of 135kph with either hand.

Fast bowlers are known to hunt in pairs, but Yasir Jan, a teenager from Charsadda in north-western Pakistan, can do both on his own.

A discovery in a talent hunt organised by Pakistan Super League team Lahore Qalandars, Jan left everyone, including former fast bowler Aaqib Javed, spellbound when he steamed in and hurled the ball at an astonishing speed.

A closer look revealed he could have the same impact when bowling with his right, and with his left.

Videos of him doing a Steyn with his right, and Mohammad Amir with his left are going viral.

According to reports in the media, the Islamabad resident has an action as clean as Wasim Akram with the left arm and Imran Khan with the right.

It’s not a natural talent for the Pakistani but the one he worked on since childhood.

A right-hander by birth, Jan can generate more swing and disconcerting bounce bowling left arm, if not the speed to match when delivering with his natural arm.

According to the laws of the game, a bowler can change the hand with which he is bowling, after he has informed the umpire and the batsman.

It remains to be seen just when this unique talent, Yasir Jan, explodes on the international scene and start winning matches for Pakistan.

Published in Dawn September 24th, 2016