This Afghanistan cricketer’s difficult journey to success is heart-breaking

Over the past few decades, not many war-torn countries have suffered the amount of bloodshed and bombings Afghanistan has seen. Many of the current crop of cricketers from the country have grown up in an atmosphere of constant terrorism and fear.

Cricket spread in the country from refugee camps in Pakistan and has become one of their most popular sports in recent years, so much so that they now enjoy a Test status as the ICC awarded them full membership in 2017. Every now and then there comes up an emotional story of an Afghanistan cricketer’s journey to the top. One such journey is of Afghan-born Morteza Ali, who now lives in Australia.

Played with broom in absence of bats

Ali, who recently led his team to the second place in a tournament organised by the Big Bash League (BBL) franchise Melbourne Renegades, recalled his days back home, where they played with a broom in absence of bats.

“Back home we didn’t have any facilities, and we weren’t allowed to play sport,” he said. “There was only one tennis ball in our street. We would try to hide and play. We didn’t have any cricket bats, so we used a broom,” Ali was quoted as saying by sbs.com.au.

“It was very hard. I lost my family, and I didn’t know where to go,” he said. “I never came out of my town until I was 16. For me, that was my whole world. I had to come from the other side of the world, travelling through different countries, walking. It took me a year and five days to arrive in the UK. There was starvation. We came through Russia, which was minus 30 degrees with no coats or jackets,” he further added.

Played county cricket in England

Long story cut short, Ali, who was naturally talented in the field of cricket, started playing professional cricket in the UK and soon participated in England’s county cricket circuit. He later relocated to Australia, where he’s promoting cricket among the Afghan community.