"If I was peeping through the window, I used to get sent away" - SRH's Fazalhaq Farooqi on his hardships growing up
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi, who made his IPL debut on Sunday, recently opened up on the hardships he faced while growing up in Afghanistan.
The 21-year-old left-arm pacer was part of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) set-up as a net bowler last year. He grabbed eyeballs after bowling with a disciplined line and length and even outsmarted the likes of MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina on a couple of occasions.
After a decent run in the international arena, Farooqi was snapped up by the Hyderabad franchise at the auction for a base price of ₹50 lakhs. After making his debut against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Fazalhaq Farooqi opened up on his growing up years and the hardships he faced.
Speaking in a video shared by SRH on their social media handles, the youngster said:
"I was in my village, and there was no electricity. That was the biggest problem. Then another problem was that there was no TV. Here, you can get TV easily, but there was no TV either. If there was one TV, so many people say around it, there was no place for others. I was really small, so they would not allow me."
Farooqi added:
"If I was peeping through the window or some other place, I used to get sent away, I wasn't allowed. I faced a lot of difficulties in even watching matches. Until 2017, I couldn't watch matches easily. I just wanted a time when I sit easily and watch a match. But I didn't get that. After that, it became a little easier, now I can watch it."
Meanwhile, the Afghan cricketer didn't have a great start to his IPL career, going for plenty in his first few matches. However, it's still early days in his career, and if the team persists with him, Fazalhaq Farooqi is likely to reap the rewards.
"I started playing tennis ball cricket" - Fazalhaq Farooqi
The Afghanistan international, who has played four ODIs and three T20Is, revealed that he started playing tennis ball cricket in his native place in Baghlan. Farooqi revealed that people started to take a notice of the sport when the Afghan cricket team earned success on the global stage.
Fazalhaq Farooqi explained:
"First of all, I am from the north of Afghanistan. A lot of people know Kabul and Jalalabad. I am from the north, a province named Baghlan. At first, there wasn't much cricket there. People played a lot of football because there was already an Afghanistan football team."
"When the Afghanistan national team started performing well in cricket, they started coming live on TV, then people started taking notice and then cricket started growing."
Farooqi went on to add that he took up cricket seriously after the provincial association started a private academy in Baghlan and provided facilities for free. He said:
"But even then, there was not much professional cricket because there are no facilities, no ground, and no good academies. People didn't play much hard-ball cricket. They played tennis ball cricket. There is a lot of talent there. Even I started playing tennis ball cricket. Then the people at the provincial association started a private academy and didn't take money for it."
"Everything was free. This is where I started cricket, and I play there even now. I feel if there is a good ground there, there is a lot of talent that will come through in Baghlan.
With a few more matches left in the competition, Fazalhaq Farooqi is likely to get a couple of more opportunities to prove his talent in the biggest T20 league in the world.