Fast and furious UP migrant beats poverty,plays true to his name

With a name like that,and a reputation for crushing helmets and fracturing egos,it’s difficult not to create a buzz. Young Amir has made Mumbai’s willow-centric nurseries sit up and take notice by making it to the 15-member city squad for the Buchi Babu tournament — without having played a single age-group match yet.

The pre-season tournament,at which top national teams play their first XIs with an eye on the Ranji Trophy,starts this weekend. Amir,the boy from Uttar Pradesh,has somehow beaten the revered system of juniors rising through the ranks.

Like most migrants who come to Mumbai,life for Amir has been full of back-breaking struggle. “One day,if things go my way,I hope to give back to my family all that they have sacrificed,” he said.

Born in a farming household well below the poverty line,Amir left home at the age of 15 to pursue his cricketing dream. And the first roadblock appeared as soon as he arrived in Mumbai.

One of the ground rules of Mumbai Cricket Association is that all cricketers from outside Mumbai must ply their trade in local leagues before they become eligible for selection to an age-group team of the state. So Amir went about offering his cricketing talent to any club that wanted him,on the many maidans of the city.

“I used to earn just enough to eat one meal a day,” said Amir,who now lives in a unauthorised chawl perched on Kurla’s crowded hills.

“But with time,I earned a reputation. I knocked over plenty of batsmen,injuring most of them. Seeing them hurt despite the protective gear gave me confidence. They found it very hard to score off my bowling,because most of the time they were just trying to avoid being hit,” he said.

The ability to extract awkward bounce earned Amir his first permanent contract — with the posh Cricket Club of India. When selectors at the elite CCI watched him drop batsmen with each of his deliveries in the first over of the trials,they knew they had to have him.

Against DY Patil,another elite club,he took eight wickets in a Purshottam Shield game,and is now permanently on their roster.

“So much has happened so fast. On some days I used to walk 10 kilometres to reach the ground because I had no money for a bus ticket,” Amir said. “There were days when I went without eating anything at all,and every day I had to come down Kurla hill just to have a bath.”

Those were unimaginably difficult days,and Amir was on the verge of giving up and returning to Faizabad,where his parents needed him to help get the family two square meals a day. But just when it appeared that things could not get any worse,they suddenly got better.

Former Ranji pacer Swapnil Hazare took Amir under his wing,and former India all-rounder Ajit Agarkar lent him a pair of bowling shoes. Help and advice from other quarters followed.

Former Mumbai and India quick Abey Kuruvilla,a freak talent like Amir who too beat the system by making the cut directly from tennis ball cricket,feels that with the right guidance,Amir has the potential to make it all the way to the top. Former batsman Wasim Jaffer says Amir has an excellent action that can produce both seam and swing,apart from lethal bounce.

But the best compliment has come from the coaches at the Bandra Kurla Complex grounds,who have asked the lad to take it just a little easy — so that he does not injure any of the other aspiring probables.

Mohammad Amir Khan seems well on his way.