For the 29-year-old former cricketer M.A. Kareem, who represented ACA in the junior age group, the one-day international between India and West Indies eves at Mulapadu, came as an opportunity not to showcase his cricketing skills, but his innate creative abilities.
He entered the ground with the paraphernalia associated with the world of painting and began drawing the portrait of Indian skipper Mithali Raj by using a hue of acrylic colours. He quietly sat in a corner and unmindful of the proceedings in the middle, he completed his work after spending around six hours. “After giving up cricket I started to dabble with colours and I was drawn towards this wonderful world of colours and images. Today, I am professional painter and I am making a living out of this art,” said the former member of New Everest Cricket Club with a sense of pride.
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Along with abstract, landscape and other genres, Kareem is drawing portraits of popular cricketers such as Sachin Tenduklar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, and V.V.S. Laxman - for a reason. “MSK (Prasad) Sir is planning to hang these artworks at various academies functioning in jurisdiction of Andhra Cricket Association as an inspiration to the young cricketers,” he pointed out. Kareem took two hours to draw the face of the Indian skipper and later spent around four hours to draw the background projecting the mountains and the lush-green playfield.
“ I gave her [Mithali] the painting soon after the match and she felt very happy,” he said. Incidentally, Kareem drew the pencil sketch of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who visited the playfield on Wednesday to interact with the ACA administrators.