He grew up with boys whose pockets swelled when their families received the much-awaited money order from their fathers, taxi drivers or manual labourers in Mumbai.

Six years after Murtuza ventured into former Test opener Sudhir Naik’s National Cricket Club at Azad Maidan and bowled in his chappals, today he is the one bright spot in Mumbai’s miserable Ranji season.

Seventeen wickets from four games make the 21-year-old pacer the find of the season—and also the role model for several cricket migrants from UP and Bihar to Mumbai.

Murtuza’s close friend in the Mumbai Ranji team is 18-year-old left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla, who is now in South Africa with the India under-19 team. Iqbal left Azamgarh in UP four years back with dreams of wearing an India cap.

There are scores like them from north India, playing at different levels of the game in the city. Jamshedpur’s Ravishankar Singh was part of the Mumbai u-22 squad that took the national title recently. Mumbai’s junior cricket squads have Ashish Yadav, Raju Sharma, Abhishek Malviya and Nadeem Mehidi, who with their clean Hindi stand out in the dressing rooms where the official language is a highly mutilated Bombaiya version of the national language.

Though these cricketers at times say that they do get to hear that occasional derogatory ‘bhaiya’ slur, they are happy that the trip to the city has been worthwhile.

Says Mumbai Cricket Association treasurer Prof Ratnakar Shetty: “We have a rule according to which an outsider can only play for Mumbai after he is a regular on the city circuit for two years. If that criteria is followed, it all depends on the performance. Anybody who is good plays.”

The Rizvi Education Society Trust has provided the perfect support system in the city for most of these migrants. They get drafted into the team of Rizvi Springfield High School in Bandra that also ensures them a place to stay. REST’s trustee Javed Rizvi explains, “We have cricket camp in Rizvi school at Allahabad. Cricketers there have huge talent and we provide them opportunity to come to Mumbai. We give these kids all the help we can to help them get a break.”

The one-bedroom REST flat in Bandra, close to where India opener Wasim Jaffer grew up, houses 10 to 15 young cricketers at anytime of the year. They sleep on a thin mat and most of the cramped living area is occupied by huge cricket kits.

Murtuza, who now has moved to a company accommodation in Chembur, remembers his first address in Mumbai. “Do you think we could afford a place in Bandra. It was a big help and the cricket atmosphere also helped a lot,” he says.

Murtuza, who plays for the once-true-blue Marathi team Shivaji Park Youngsters, is living the dream of Bandra’s cricket pad. Mumbai under-22 player Ravishankar says, “Cricket changed his life. But we have seen his struggling days. Today he has a Ranji cap, a job with BPCL and gets paid enough to help his family back home.”

The Bandra flat wasn’t Murtuza’s first destination in Mumbai. “He came with chappals and even bowled in them. As a bowler, he didn’t need much help but as someone new in the city, he needed a lot. I asked Raju Pathan of Rizvi to accommodate him. He got a school and a place to stay also,” says Naik.

Iqbal Abdullah, before getting into the Mumbai Ranji squad this season, has been the spin mainstay of the India under-19 squad. His mentor Naushad Khan got him to Mumbai. Iqbal’s big family of eight children had to survive from the income from his father’s small shop in his Azamgarh village.

Now things are different. “My income has helped the family. Last year I helped my father get my sister married and now I have a dream of sending my parents for Haj,” says Abdullah.