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.