Cricket's love for prodigies and the band of Naseem Shah

If you are an Indian fan and haven’t followed English cricket for a while, you would be forgiven for thinking that Haseeb Hameed is a star now, perhaps doing well to fill Alastair Cook’s colossal throne. However, in reality, that valiant unbeaten 59 runs in the second innings of the Mohali Test in 2016, when he braved injury to negotiate a fierce Ravichandran Ashwin and Umesh Yadav from two ends, was the end of the Test career for the then 19-year-old and the world has heard a little of him since then.

It might not be a battle of truism and perception - often two stifling things that bind sportspeople across generations - but the kinder impact of being a sub-continental cricketer is not easy to ignore. Even Sachin Tendulkar had to prove for his life-time that he was as good as he was made out to be while on the other hand, Anil Kumble had to prove throughout his life that he was far far better than the world judged him in every step of the way. When Naseem ran in to deliver, with 10000 supporters on the stands, there was something in the air that we often tend to blur - that it is the burst of a show by a young kid, having a life ahead of him. Anything but a reality check would add unnecessary burden on his shoulder, like it did on Hameed, as one of those many theories suggest. 

Almost 18 months ago, Prithvi Shaw, a prodigy by the highest of prodigal standards, scored a debut century, just after leading the country to an U-19 title. The world had gone gaga for him. Rightfully, Shaw had backed it up with a fluent run of form and had it not been for his regular influx of injuries and the back-dated doping ban, he would have been more than 10-Tests old by now. That he has the capability is no doubt, but the key for him, like most of the players of his age, lies in sustainability as Vinod Kambli and Unmukt Chand realised in their lives. 

Naseem Shah is not a kid from the metropolis of Lahore and Karachi nor does he know the life-style of Islamabad, but his roots of Lower Dir would keep him rooted, and hopefully, grounded enough to give justice to every juice of his talent. Growing up in the remote village and then losing his mother on the eve of his Test debut, he knows the difficulties of life more than many of us can even comprehend and now, it is only fate whose obsessive affair can stop him from reaching places. For the fact that, unlike Hameed, whose Indian roots in Bolton gave him a sense of worth very early in his career, Naseem had to battle it out - not only with the societal norm in his small village but his initially reluctant father’s dream - would surely keep him in good stead.