South African cricketer Bjorn Fortuin has announced that he has embraced Islam and changed his name to Imaad. He confirmed the same via his Instagram account.
The 26-year-old got married to his girlfriend Mieshke Aysen on Sunday, and announced that both he and his wife were converting to Islam. The couple were congratulated by some of his teammates.
Fortuin further shared on Instagram that he took his Shahada, an Islamic oath, during the holy month of Ramadan and chose the name Imaad.
He is the second cricketer from South Africa after medium pacer Wayne Parnell to convert to Islam. Parnell, who changed his name to Waleed but continues to be known as Wayne, embraced the religion in 2011.
Fortuin made his first class debut in 2013, but wasn’t able to make a good impression. He was called up to make his international debut for the South Africa national team in 2019, when the side toured India. He made his T20I debut against India in the three-match series in September that year.
He has played one ODI and seven T20Is for South Africa so far, picking up six wickets in the shortest format.
Fortuin was last seen playing for South Africa in the four-match T20I series against Pakistan earlier this month. Pakistan won the series after defeating South Africa 3-1.
