They say life isn’t about finding yourself, it is about creating yourself. Ashiq Hussain profiles a ‘disabled’ cricketer, whose passion for cricket, and life-helped him defy the odds.
Two events one after the other, at the age of five, changed Shabir Ahmad Bhat’s life forever. He lost his left leg in an accident and when the boy crawled to join school, the principal denied him admission due to his “disability.”
Bhat gave up schooling but not the struggle to outdo his ‘normal’ peers. Bhat is now 24 and a passionate athlete leading a group of passionate cricketers of Harzratbal on the banks of Dal Lake.
That is the reason whenever a ball was swung in the air at Kashmir University’s cricket ground recently; those cheering for the batting side were too awestruck to care about their batsman’s dismissal. Throwing his crutch aside and running for the ball, Bhat earned cheers from opponents and supporters alike.
Marshalling his Hazratbal Young Cricket Club, Bhat has been nicknamed ‘Lara’ of Kashmir for his aggressive batting. But unlike the West Indian batting legend, he thrashes his bowlers with just one hand.
Bhat’s agility on the field was quite a spectacle. Cheers grew louder every time the crutch wielding youngster threw his body to stop the ball from touching the boundary line. “I can run faster than a normal player. My right hand has the power of two and I can hit the ball like any other cricketer,” Bhat boasted as his face gleamed with confidence.
His struggle to survive started when he was born into a tailor’s family. A string of problems started when he was just five years old. His leg was amputated after he suffered burns from a Kangri leaving him crippled for the rest of his life. Since then, he says, life threw all sorts of challenges at him that made it even more difficult. He was refused admission by a school in the neighborhood just because he had to crawl his way to and from home for want of crutches. Later, the final blow from fate came at the age of ten, when his father died due to an illness.
His father’s death had left the family shattered. But his spirits refused to be dampened. Instead of losing hope, he decided to fight it out. “I thought if I lament on my disability it will harm no one but me, so I decided to prove that I can work better than a normal man,” he said as his eyes moistened while recalling his years of struggle.
Bhat started to work hard as a tailor during the day to support his family. In the evenings he would sweat it out on the field with a bat, standing on his crutches which he designed himself. The crutches that he had bought from the market broke easily due to the hard physical pressure on them. A little creativity in using Kikar wood ensured that his crutches matched his requirements also on the sports field.
But the seemingly endless years of strife were to end with his efforts rewarding him well. Slowly and steadily his efforts bore fruit and he could balance his body on his only leg. By then business was growing too. He owns a store near his home in Hazratbal selling all kinds of hosiery. “Today I no longer feel like a disabled. I do all my work like a normal human being,” he said with an air of satisfaction.
“My father used to cry, saying, ‘how will you survive on one leg in this competitive world.’ But today my mother and younger siblings all look to me in times of any difficulty,” the young man said adding “The Almighty chooses strange ways to manifest His benevolence.”
Bhat’s big break came when his team was allowed to participate in an open cricket tournament held at Kashmir University. His participation in the tournament would have been difficult had it not been for Amjid Qadir, KU’s cricket coach, who said Bhat’s dedication and confidence impressed him as they did his numerous fans and admirers.
“We were reluctant to allow him for obvious reasons, but his determination is such that we had to bend our rules,” Qadir said. “Our youth are going for everything except sports. The motive to allow him was to set an example for motivating youth towards sports. Otherwise for disabled we have to set separate facilities, which was not possible in an open tournament,” Qadir explained.
“He is just exceptional. I am awestruck with his commitment, will power and enthusiasm towards the game. He even outshines his teammates,” said the coach who admits being a fan of the “different” cricketer.
