He still remembers the day he told his teacher and classmates he wanted to grow up to be a cricketer; and how they laughed at him. Where Yusuf Adam Abdulla grew up and studied — a small school in a rural town of Dundee — his dream was pushing the limits of reason. There was little in terms of cricket equipment there, and nothing better in a 100 km radius, he says. Cricket at school was restricted to one or two games a year.

A month after his international debut, putting in some solid performances in the IPL for Kings XI Punjab -- he was the hero against Mumbai on Wednesday, conceding only eight runs in the final over -- Abdulla smiles as he speaks zof his early struggles. “To think about pursuing any sport then was ridiculous. There were just farms all around and getting a decent education itself was a big thing. It was only after high school that my talent was noticed and I joined an academy. My coach Hasim Ebrahim used to take me on a two-hour drive from Dundee to Pietermaritzburg to help me pursue my cricket,” the 26-year old says. “I am glad I’m living my dream.”

Nicknamed ‘The Dundee Express’, the left-arm seamer, incidentally, had gone unsold at the second season’s auction. “I was a touch disappointed. I wanted to be a part of the IPL because it’s proved to be a great platform for a lot of international players. When the IPL came to South Africa, I was beginning to sense that something might work in my favour,” he says. “Then, one day, the phone rang and the Kings XI guys said they wanted to sign me. I just said deal.”

... contd.