I was a very good cricket player back in Pakistan. People from other towns would call me to play for them.
Once, I played in a very big cricket tournament. I didn’t sleep at all the night before it because I was very excited. It was a big game for me. The day of the final match, I was the bowler. They had a very good, international batsman who came up to bat. The score was close and they needed a run to win. There were probably 700 people, all of them looking at me. I was very nervous.
My captain came over to me and said, “I trust in you. You can do this.” I had walked two that day, and before that, two or three bowlers had hit me well. “Don’t worry about all that. I know you can bowl him out.” So I start to think, “I can do this. I don’t want to miss my chance.”
I bowl the first bowl... and he misses. The next 3 bowls, I bowl with my full power and he misses all of them. Then, I bowl toward his foot, and he can’t hit it. Only one bowl remaining. It was a very confusing time! I take the ball… everybody is shouting at me, “Come on! Come on!” I take the ball, wind it up, throw it and… got him clean out! I shouted! Everyone ran down to the field and lifted me up on their shoulders.
I will never forget that moment.