by Mayukh Ghosh

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Hussain, it's another boy."
The Hussains had two boys and they had just lost their young daughter. They hoped for a girl.
But they were happy that the child survived.

A month or so after Shireen Hussain fell pregnant, the doctors in Madras told her there was no hope of the baby surviving.
She was even told, quite brutally, that the baby would have to be flushed down the toilet.
They insisted that there was nothing more remaining and she must accept it.

But she didn't. She fought to give the baby a chance to live.
Nasser was born.
Shireen always believed that Nasser became a fighter because of all this.

They moved to England in 1975 but before that young Nasser had the chance to face Lance Gibbs' bowling in Madras.

Nasser became a sensation due to his skills as a leg-spinner. He even led the England schools team.
But then one fine morning, he discovered that he had lost it.
He tried, got frustrated, got depressed, but couldn't salvage the situation.
He decided to become a specialist batsman.

But he would never have become a cricketer if his father was not there. In fact, if his father had not made the sacrifices. Nasser, till the last day of his career, played to satisfy his father.

He did pretty well, didn't he?

Nasser Hussain was born on Mar 28, 1968