DINDIGUL : A few kilometres down the highway that connects Dindigul’s urban centre to Madurai lies Annamalaiar Mills Colony; a vast expanse of land marked out by a huge mobile tower, with a sprinkling of houses to boot. One of them stands out: a big four-bedroom residence bathed in blue. It was built only two years ago, after the waves of fame that washed over M Mohammed — courtesy the past editions of Tamil Nadu Premier League — finally brought with them the money to do that.
A few years ago, Annamalaiar Mills Colony wasn’t even Annamalaiar Mills Colony. It was just a ground where children played impromptu matches of cricket. Here was where Dindigul’s cricketing hero took his first steps to stardom. He then stayed a stone’s throw away at a house that won’t hold a candle to the blue one he now lives in when it comes to size. He was there with his three brothers, one sister, and parents. They only had the salary of a worker employed in the mill after which the street takes its name to make ends meet.
“He was never afraid of getting hurt. When he was 12, he even broke his knee once while playing there with his brothers,” his father Mohammed Salim remembers. “Cricket has always been his life.”
The story did write itself. Destiny prodding the current Dindigul District Cricket Association secretary into spotting the young prodigy at a local tournament, and then into becoming his godfather of sorts. Triples ride on a bike with his brothers, just to save the bus fare.
Hard yards in the lower echelons of Chennai’s division cricket. An eventual Tamil Nadu Ranji Trophy debut; an honour for the city, since the digits on a single hand are enough to count the ones who managed to get that. Then, the inevitable ebb that always pops up in such narratives. And then, the eventual resolution of conflict: stellar seasons with Dindigul Dragons pushing him back into the state fold, one that also brought in tow a hat-trick.
“There are two things that really define Mohammed,” remarks Noorjahan Begum, his mother. “The first is his absolute focus on cricket. That game is his life. The second is his habit of spending. Not for himself, but for others.”
That’s what gave Mohammed’s family this house, and the Hyundai i20 that they own. You’d expect him to hang on to the tattered kit bag and other worn-out cricketing gear from his old days as a reminder of the past. But even those have been donated to other young Mohammeds. He has his trophies — even those made for tournaments that will never be classified as official — clippings from newspapers, and the odd group photo to sit back and rewind to the days when he was making himself who he is now. “But he does love bikes a lot,” she adds. A Royal Enfield Classic 500 Desert Storm gleams in the background to acknowledge her.
Mohammed may not have hit the gear that he usually does for his home team, but Dindigul have time for that. But in all these years, his passion and commitment for the game have built both him and his family from the ground up.
“I and my wife will be leaving for the Hajj pilgrimage next month,” says Salim. “We owe that to Mohammed.”
After all, had a brave 12-year-old not kept picking himself up again and again to rise above the rest, Rs 10 lakh - the cost of their trip - would just be a one appended with a lot of never-gettable zeroes for him and his family.
Chepauk victorious
Left-arm orthodox R Alexander scalped five to help Chepauk Super Gillies beat Trichy Warriors by 41 runs on Tuesday. Brief scores: Chepauk 148/6 in 20 ovs (Harish 39) bt Kanchi 107/9 in 20 ovs (Alexander 5/9).