Jammu and Kashmir para-cricketer Amir Hussain at an event in Chandigarh. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
Thirty-four-year-old Amir Hussain Lone still remembers the day when he lost both his hands in a sawmill accident at his father Bashir Ahmad Lone’s wood cutting mill as an eight-year-old in 1997. Hailing from Waghama village in the Bijbehara tehsil in Anantnag district in Jammu and Kashmir, the specially abled para captain of the state team was in the limelight early this year when he met cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar during the cricketer’s holiday in Kashmir. Last month, Amir also played the first ball of the Indian Street Premier League apart from batting along with his idol Sachin Tendulkar.
“I still remember the day when I lost both of my hands while playing near the sawmill at my father’s mill. Many thought I had died while my sister and relatives picked me up from the mill. To meet Sachin Tendulkar sir and play in the first match of the ISPL was one of the biggest moments of my cricketing journey and self-belief was the key behind all these moments,” recalls Amir while speaking with The Indian Express after being declared as the brand ambassador of a private group of colleges in Chandigarh.
With his father Bashir Ahmad Lone running a saw mill apart from owning a small piece of land in at village, a young Amir would play cricket in the village neighbourhood. It was on a fateful day in 1997 that the then eight-year-old went to give a tiffin box to one of the labourers at the mill that the youngster lost both his hands in an accident.
J & K Para cricket captain Amir Hussain Lone batting on the left and bowling on the right. (Screengrab)
“My mother Raza Begum wanted me to take the tiffin and hand it to one of the labourers. While I was playing, my jacket got stuck in the sawmill and both my hands were cut. People around left me considering me as dead before my sister and relatives took me home. Later, some of the Indian Army personnel helped me to get to the nearby hospital where I was operated upon,” remembers Amir.
While he recovered in six months after the surgery, the youngster would spend time at his home with his parents and grandmother.
It was in 2000 that Amir started playing cricket again in his home using his neck and shoulder to handle the bat. While the neighbourhood did not support him, the youngster would often walk to nearby cricket tournaments urging organisers to let him play and sometimes he got a chance to play. “My grandmother was the one who told me to play. She would throw the ball towards me and I would try to use my neck and shoulder. Later, I also learnt to bowl using my big toe and second toe of the foot gripping the ball. I remember once I was watching Sachin Tendulkar bat on TV at one of my neighbours’ homes. They suddenly asked me to leave their home. That’s when I started practising for four hours at my home and walked or took lifts to the village tournaments. Sometimes I got a chance to play and earn some money for my family,” remembers Amir.
It was in 2013 that Amir registered for a cricket camp in the state while attending the Government College at Bijbehara. He would make it to the state para team in 2015 and later played for the Indian para cricket team too. “Playing for the state team and then the Indian para team was a life-changing moment for me. Wearing the Indian jersey just like my idol Sachin sir meant a lot for me,” says Amir.
Sachin Tendulkar with Jammu and Kashmir Para cricket team captain Amir Hussain Lone. (Screengrab)
While Covid-19 would mean that he would not play in tournaments for close to two years spending time with his wife Shokey Akhtar and son Imad apart from working part-time in a factory on a monthly wage of Rs 5,000, it was in February this year that Amir met Tendulkar for the first time after his cricketing video went viral over social media. “Sachin sir had seen my video and had planned to visit my village before snowfall restricted his plan. He called me over the phone and told me, ‘Amir bhai, aap humse milne aa sakte hain (Amir, can you come to meet me)? That was the happiest day of my life. Later, I also played along with him in ISPL. He always tells me that he gets inspiration from me,“ says Amir.
Before signing off, the para cricketer has one message for all: “Zindagi mein kabhi haar nahi manani chahiye, taqdeer unki badalti han jinke sapno mein jaan hoti hai (We should never accept defeat in life. Destiny can be changed if dreams have power).”
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