Cricketers who overcame adversity: It’s easy to admire someone who is in charge, calling the shots, and controlling the world, and to take inspiration from someone who has been in charge for a long time. What appears tough, though, is appreciating the underperforming cricketers who come from impoverished families and do their absolute hardest to make a life with very limited resources.
However, not everyone who is Richie Rich started off that way in the world of flash and glam. They had to deal with a lot of flaws, sacrifices, and challenges along this lengthy and historic voyage. These stories are classic rags-to-riches stories that elicit a wide range of emotions in those who read them. We’ll take a quick look at five cricketers who overcame the monstrosity of poverty and kissed the world’s top.
#5 Chris Gayle
We’re all aware of the wealth that the Universe Boss now boasts about, including a cool lifestyle, a plethora of money, and, of course, those massive sixes falling down on the poor bowlers. Gayle, on the other hand, did not grow up in such opulence. He had to face difficult hurdles, including stealing to feed his stomach.
Gayle was teary-eyed in an interview as he reminisced about his troubled childhood. He used to live in a mud-house with his parents and siblings. His father worked for the police, while his mother sold peanuts to supplement the family’s income. Gayle used to scavenge the trash for burned remains of whatever food he could find to satisfy his hunger. He would even sell plastic bottles he discovered in the trash to fill the platter with food. Cricket was the one who saved him. Lucas Cricket Club recognised his potential, trained him to perfection, and then let him go on the world. They say the rest is history.
#4 Dale Steyn
Despite entering an era of total domination in which Steyn dominated the cricket roster with some scary performances, the dangerous pacer came from a very humble beginning. He made his debut during the waning years of Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, and Allan Donald, one of the world’s most fearsome fast bowling trios at the time.
Dale Steyn, a tremendous fast bowler who left the world starstruck with a mastery of fast bowling that had the world reeling on its knees, was introduced by the Rainbow Nation. When he first began playing cricket, though, he lacked the financial means to purchase decent, new cricket shoes. He also claimed in an interview to begging Shaun Pollock to lend him his shoes so he wouldn’t falter in his first match. On his very first day in the world, he went on to grab three valuable scalps, radiating fire.
#3 Shoaib Akhtar
Shoaib Akhtar, one of the most outstanding fast bowlers of the first decade of the twenty-first century, would go on to throw deliveries that would make even the best batters shiver. His early background wasn’t quite as outstanding as it ultimately become.
He used to live with his parents and children in a house where the roof was constantly in need of repair due to its poor state. Indeed, it was so bad that it rained down on the family on a rainy monsoon night. He couldn’t afford a bicycle and would walk two hours back and forth from the stadium on a regular basis. On the day of his first trial, he had to ask the bus conductor if he might sit on the bus’s rood. Only if the bus conductor was aware of who he had let to board the bus.
#2 David Warner
David Warner, one of Australia’s most aggressive and productive openers, has come a long way from working until 3 a.m. and going to school until 7 a.m. to become one of the best cricketers in the world.
David Warner House
Warner used to live in a housing-commission flat in Matraville when he was ten years old, and his family couldn’t even afford to buy a bat. Warner’s family ultimately managed to purchase a bat after much hardship, and he had to take extra precautions to ensure that the bat remained intact. He was also working a part-time job at a store until 3 a.m., and on weekends he was a paper delivery boy. Cricket, on the other hand, was his salvation, and it was this sport that brought him the acclaim he deserved.
#1 Mohammad Siraj
Siraj received Rs 500 for claiming fifties in his early cricket days. He scored 9 scalps in one match and was given the same amount as a prize. He finally found redemption when the IPL accepted him for a whopping Rs 2.6 crore.
He is the son of an auto-rickshaw driver, and judging by his earnings, cricket is a tall order with its overpriced gears. Given his ability to manufacture some miraculous movement, it was one of the biggest points of controversy when India didn’t pick him up in the swinging fettle of Southampton for the WTC final.
