Even as the conversation wore on, Izatullah Dawlatzai fiddled with his mobile. Then, his eyes lit up. “There it is,” he exclaimed zeroing in on a picture.
It was an image, from October 2013, of a Kabul football ground and its stands filled with joyous people. The occasion was the felicitation of the Afghanistan cricket team for entering the 2015 ODI World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Enthusiasm “The enthusiasm was so much that there was little room for us in the stadium! There must have been around 40,000 people. There were tears of joy. This is what cricket means to our country,” remembered Dawlatzai.
Now, Dawlatzai and senior paceman Hamid Hassan were fighting another battle. The two were at the Sri Ramachandra Medical University’s sports medicine centre to recover from injuries. Hasan had issues with his knee and Dawlatzai was grappling with fitness concerns of the back.
The Hindu caught up with the lively pace pair from Afghanistan. “The facilities at the centre here are so good. I have never seen anything like this before. I must thank the authorities at our Board, the BCCI and the Sri Ramachandra University for enabling us recover,” said Hassan.
Considered Afghanistan’s finest paceman – Hassan has 35 wickets in 27 ODIs at 18.94 – he is a vibrant personality who saw bullets and bombs from close as he grew up but never gave up on his passion for the game.
Talent aplenty “There is so much talent in Afghanistan. We get huge crowds for matches. There now is proper age-limit cricket too,” said the 27-year-old cricketer whose hero is former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff.
Former Pakistan pace ace Wasim Akram is Dawlatzai’s idol. The 23-year-old paceman has eight wickets in four ODIs at 13.37. “Come to Afghanistan, you will see so much cricket on the streets,” he said. The game can heal wounds.
Predictably, the two Pathans talked about the three Khans of Bollywood and were soon off to a local shopping mall.
There was an innate honesty about Hassan and Dawlatzai that transcended barriers.
