World T20: In Oman’s dressing room, an India-Pakistan bonhomie

Jatinder (2nd left) and Lalcheta (C) at Oman’s practice in Mohali. (Source: Express photo by Jasbir Malhi)

Oman’s fielding session has just begun. Coach Duleep Mendis is keenly watching them go through the paces. High catches are furled at them. India-origin players Jatinder Singh and Ajay Lalcheta are quick off the blocks to pouch them. So follow their Pakistan-born colleagues, Aamir Kaleem and Aamir Ali. They share a few light moments with Singh and Lalcheta. Kaleem leans onto Singh’s shoulders like a back rest.

Moments later, the team officials are posing for a photograph. Skipper Sultan Ahmed’s name is called out by Chef de Mission Madhu Jesrani. There are cheers all around. With nine Pakistan-born players and five Indian-born players, Oman resembles a mini sub-continent team and for the 15-member team, it is cricket that binds them all.

It’s like a family for them. “We are here to play cricket and that’s what bring these players close. It is like a family for us and there is nothing bigger than cricket for us. We would see the same kind of cheers for Bollywood songs in the team bus as we would cheer for the Pakistani food brought sometimes by the team-members,” says Jesrani, who is also the general secretary of Cricket Oman.

While most of the cricketers migrated to Oman from Pakistan and India in the early 2000’s, players like Sayeed Amir Ali, Zeeshan Siddiqi and Aamir Kaleem started playing the sport in Karachi and featured for domestic clubs in Pakistan before shifting to Oman. Playing in Muscat also meant they would spend hours along with players like Indian-born Lalcheta and Munis Insari. If four players in the current team work in the Khimji Ramdas group, three including Amir Ali and Amir Kaleem work at an Indian restaurant named Passage to India, a place where most of them gather on Thursdays for dinner. “I played with Shahid Afridi in Karachi in 1999 and 2000 at the first-class level before I moved to Muscat. We had some clubs in Muscat and soon I joined one of them. There we would also meet players from India. As we played together, it was like playing along with other cricketers in Karachi. We understood their language and later I also got a job in Passage to India owned by a person from Kerela,” shared 37-year-old Amir Ali, who has played in 7 T20 Internationals for Oman.

As recent as last month, the players also got a chance to spend some time in Rajkot and take some tips from Cheteshwar Pujara. It was also a chance for Porbandar-born Lalcheta to spend some time at his native state and brush up some old memories. “All of them know I belong to Porbandar, the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi. And they would ask about Gandhi and people of Gujarat. When we played in Rajkot last month, Pujara, who was my junior at the state level, spent some time with us and gave us tips. Cricket is like a language for all of us and that’s what we believe in,” shared Lalcheta.

And when the team sat to watch the much awaited India-Pakistan clash in the Asia Cup last week, they would not only follow Pakistan’s bowlers but also India’s batsmen. Skipper Sultan Ahmed, who played at the U-19 level in Karachi, keenly follows Mohammad Hafeez, apart from Virat Kohli. “The team watched the match together and even after the match, we were discussing Kohli’s batting and Mohammad Amir’s spell. We are a huge fan of Kohli’s attitude and the same goes for players like Hafeez. But in the end, whichever team wins, the talk is about cricket and all of us celebrate it together,” shared Ahmed.

It is also a time Ludhiana-born Jatinder Singh would reciprocate his Pakistani friends’ gesture of bringing sweets from Multan and Pakistani chapals from Lahore. “Our unity is our strength. We always discuss about Pakistani bowlers and Indian batsmen. And that’s what we aspire to do in the qualifiers to bat and bowl like both the teams,” said Singh. Ask them about what they would take home from India. “My family wants me to bring marble replicas of Taj Mahal. When we were in Rajkot, some of the players helped us in buying sarees and I am sure my family and friends in Karachi would like them,” says Ali.