An “honoured” Yasim Murtaza is poised to begin his reign as Hong Kong cricket captain next week – eight years after he leapt from a second-floor hotel window to escape a deadly fire.

All-rounder Murtaza, who replaced Nizakat Khan last month, moved to Hong Kong in 2017, after the broken heel he sustained when jumping from his room at Karachi’s Regent Plaza hotel ended his 10-year first-class career at the age of 26.

Having played with “the cream of Pakistan cricket” after making his Rawalpindi debut aged 16, Murtaza would later re-emerge in Hong Kong colours, initially in 2022 against Uganda – who will also be his first opponents as skipper next Tuesday.

But in December 2016, he was midway through a four-day match for his United Bank Limited team when a fire began in the kitchen of the team’s hotel. It would kill 11 people and injure 75 more.

“I woke from a deep sleep at around 3am or 4am and there was smoke everywhere – we had zero visibility,” Murtaza told the Post.