MOHALI: Much before South Africa’s Pakistan-born leggie Imran Tahir sprung into limelight, a little-known Pakistani was purveying his trade elsewhere, precisely in the soccer-frenzied Netherlands. Adeel Raja has negligible reasons to attract attention from the media, but representing his adopted country is recognition in itself, he reckons.
Like a zillion youngsters in Lahore, he was inspired by Pakistan’s World Cup triumph in 1992, when he was only 12. “It was big for all of us. Even though Pakistanis were few in our city (Nieuw Vennep), we celebrated it like our national holiday. It inspired me to start playing cricket seriously. I dreamt of playing for Pakistan one day,” he recollected.
But Raja’s dreams were denied, as his family were reluctant to repatriate to Lahore, where he was born and had his first taste of cricket, typically in a street. “I asked my parents whether I could move back to Pakistan, but they were unwilling and so I had to be content with whatever little exposure I was getting there,” he said.
However that didn’t deter him from keeping track of his favourite team or practising in the neighbourhood, where he bettered his peers in every aspect. “I followed the Pakistan team ardently and read and watched whatever cricket I could,” he said.
Among the star-studded Pakistan side of the 90s, off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq inspired him the most. “I was a huge follower of Saqlain, and wanted to bowl like him. Hence I started bowling off spin. Initially, I tried to imitate his run-up and action, but somehow it didn’t suit my style of bowling. Everyone has their own style of bowling,” said Raja, who has accounted for 17 wickets in 19 matches.
His forte, he reckons, is his accuracy. “I may not spin or flight the ball as big as Harbhajan or Muralitharan, but I always look to bowl at the right spots,” he said.
Delighted at playing the World Cup, he looks forward to bowling to Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.
Interestingly, he bears another similarity with one of the best leg-spinners in the game. Like Shane Warne, he failed a drug test and served an eight-month ban. “I was using propecia for hairfall. I didn’t know it was banned. Those eight months were the darkest phase of my life and career,” he said.
