KOTLI SATTIAN: Yasir Arafat

Yasir Arafat Satti (born 12 March 1982) is a Pakistani first-class cricketer. He bats right-handed and bowls right-arm fast. He hails from Durnoyian, Kotli Sattian.

Yasir Arafat Satti is one such name, who has played in almost all the major leagues and created records one after another. Yasir is one of the most successful cricketers in county cricket and one of the few foreign players, who is playing county cricket in England for last 13 years in running.

He is an all-rounder of typically Pakistani ethos; ideal for ODI cricket but also you suspect capable of occasionally dangerous feats in Test matches. He is handy as a lower-order plunderer - he averages nearly 27 at first-class level though his bowling remains much his stronger suit.His type of straight, full, skiddy bowling politeness a slingy action accounted for Andrew Flintoff's wicket at an ODI in Karachi in December 2005. It has also helped him to nine wickets against England in a warm-up game earlier during the same series and it once accounted for five wickets in six balls in a domestic game in December 2004 (four of the five were either leg-before or bowled), a feat performed by only three other bowlers.

Apart from Abdul Razzaq and perhaps Shahid Afridi, Yasir Arafat is the only other genuine all-rounder to be produced by Pakistan in the 21st century. His immediate impact on domestic cricket saw him become a part of the Pakistan cricket team at the age of 17.

In 2004, Arafat performed the extremely rare feat of taking five wickets in six balls for Rawalpindi against the national champions Faisalabad in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. This had only been achieved three times previously in the entire history of first-class cricket: by Bill Copson in 1937, William Henderson in 1938 and Pat Pocock in 1972. Arafat was the only bowler to take the wickets spread over two innings.

On 8 December 2007, Arafat made his Test match debut for Pakistan against India in Bangalore in the third and final Test of the series. He displayed his all-round abilities by taking 7 wickets in the match including a 5-wicket haul, and scoring 44 in the first innings.

He can generate pace and when conditions are helpful, swing.An inspiring start to the 2007 county season with Kent, where he starred with ball as well the bat, saw Arafat being awarded a central contract for the first time. With injuries to Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul, Arafat was called up as replacement and made his Test debut against India at Bangalore in December 2007.He has good knowledge of English conditions, having played league cricket and for Scotland, he was recruited by Sussex in the 2006 Championship season. In his first three games, he took 17 wickets with two five-wicket hauls as well as scoring a couple of fifties. He has been on the fringes of the Pakistan squad for a number of years though given the all rounders ahead of him - Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi and even Shoaib Malik.