THE INSPIRING CRICKETING JOURNEY OF AMIR HUSSAIN LONE

Amir Hussain Lone, a 34 year old cricketer from Wagham village in Kashmir’s Anantnag district. The turning point came in the year he went to his father’s sawmill to deliver lunch for his brother. It was a Sunday afternoon in 1997.  “I was playing around the saw machine when it snagged my jacket and sucked me in, chopping both my arms and flinging me aside,” he narrates animatedly. This life altering experience has been seared into his memory as if it had happened yesterday. He describes how villagers said “he’s dead, bury him”, how a neighbour plucked up courage to approach the army camp, how the soldiers gave him first aid and took him to the Bone and Joints Hospital in Baramulla, and how his father Bashir Ahmad had to sell their land to pay for his treatment. 

Bitter experiences have taught Amir never to rely on others. In eighth standard, while walking to school, his trousers fell when the button snapped. He leaped off the road into a ditch and asked passersby to help but no one came to his aid. He hid till darkness fell, picked up his trousers with his teeth and walked home through the fields. When a teacher asked Amir’s classmate to help him write, the boy replied, “I am not his servant.” So after school, Amir aimed stones at walnut trees, sold the fallen nuts to a grocer for Rs 5 and bought a pen. From a cloth merchant he got a few taaga (cardboard sheets inside bales), gripped them between chin and shoulder, and went home to practise writing on them.

Despite facing what one may call insurmountable challenges, Amir’s resilience and passion for the game of cricket continue to inspire others. He has expressed that the government did not provide assistance during the challenging period after his accident. In a recent video uploaded by the official X handle of ANI, the cricketer can be seen batting while holding the bat between his left shoulder and his neck. He can then be seen bowling using his right leg by holding the ball between his toes.
 
In 2016 he captained the J&K para cricket team; that same year, Ajay Jadeja sponsored his trip to Mumbai to watch India play West Indies in the T20 World Cup. In 2017, when he won the Punjab Swabhimaan award, chief guest Navjyot Singh Siddhu recited a Ghalib couplet in his praise.  Amir further explained how everyone was shocked to see him play without hands. “I played nationals in Delhi in 2013 and in 2018, I played an international match against Bangladesh. After that, I played cricket in Nepal, Sharjah and Dubai. Everyone was shocked to see me playing with my legs (bowling) and batting with my shoulder and neck. I thank God for giving me the strength to play cricket,” the Kashmir-born  cricketer asserts.

Industrialist Gautam Adani praised him for his spirit of never giving up even in adverse conditions. The chairman of the Adani Group also assured Lone of providing “every possible support” in his unique journey.

“We salute your courage, dedication to the game and the spirit of never giving up, even in adverse circumstances. @AdaniFoundation will contact you soon and provide you with every possible support in this unique journey. Your struggle is an inspiration for all of us,” Adani wrote on X (formerly Twitter), sharing a clip of Lone, who is also the captain of Jammu and Kashmir’s para cricket team, showing his extraordinary skills of batting.

Sachin Tendulkar expresses admiration for para cricketer Amir Hussain Lone from Kashmir and congratulate him for inspiring millions. Tendulkar wishes to meet Amir and get a jersey with his name

“And Amir has made the impossible possible. I am so touched watching this! Shows how much love and dedication he has for the game. Hope I get to meet him one day and get a jersey with his name. Well done for inspiring millions who are passionate about playing the sport”.

Amir said that a movie is been made for him by Pickle Entertainment.

“Pickle Entertainment” is making a movie for me and the date will be announced soon. I went to a show where Vicky Kaushal was also there and they were also stunned by my journey and said that they will make a movie about me,” the player said.

Amir Hussain Lone says that Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli are his and his team’s favourite player.