I grew up in the masjid for the first 18 years of my life. All my memories, experiences—good and bad—happened there. My mother’s and father’s struggles all took place there. My father used to work in two places, at Sahara Chemicals and at the masjid. He didn’t earn much of a salary.

What work did he do at Sahara Chemicals?

Ek chota sa kaam karte the. He used to work for about eight hours, then cycle home and then work for four-five hours at the masjid. So my brother and I used to try and help him out whenever we could. It wasn’t a lot, because we would have to go to school and then practise. But we tried to help.

When did you think about cricket?

When I was 10 years old, my brother and I used to play in the mohalla.

Because in middle class, lower middle class families. they just want their kids to study, study, study the whole time.

In the masjid, where I grew up, we weren’t allowed to play cricket. We would still try, but the other namazis would protest. Actually it’s not a good thing to play cricket in the masjid. So people would complain to my father. My father didn’t want us kids to go astray. So he spoke to my uncle, Ahmed mian, and he got us enrolled at the Baroda Sports Club. I was ten years old at the time.

But how did playing cricket become a passion?

... contd.