24-05-2025
Lost parents when he was toddler, Gully cricket's best batsman drives auto to support his dreams
Mohammad Shahbaz lost his parents when he was barely two years old. On Friday, after collecting the best batsman's trophy in the boys' category in the third edition of the UTCA Chandigarh Police Gully Cricket Tournament, Shahbaz (18) of Team 187, while celebrating with his teammates, remembered his parents Mohammad Lateef and Zehrunnissa. The trophy was given by Chandigarh Administrator and Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria at Punjab Raj Bhavan on Friday.
A student of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 19, and fan of Virat Kohli, Shahbaz, currently drives a rented auto in Bapu Dham apart from managing his studies, to support his dreams.
'I was two years old when I lost both my parents to illness. I was raised by my maternal grandmother Jainab at our native village in Gonda district in Uttar Pradesh and had come to Chandigarh eight years ago to stay with my maternal uncle. Later in 2019, I shifted staying alone and training in cricket under various coaches. Early this year, I started driving an auto to support myself. I dedicate this trophy to my parents,' said Shahbaz while speaking with The Indian Express.
The youngster had been training under UT coach Harish Sharma in 2022 at the Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 32. He competed in the first edition of the UTCA Chandigarh Police Gully Cricket Tournament in 2023 and was part of the runner-up Team 53 scoring more than 200 runs in the tournament.
This year, Shahbaz scored 254 runs and took 11 wickets in the tournament. While he will be trained by UTCA for further training, the youngster will also be returning to drive his auto post his school and training to support himself. 'I have been training under Harish sir and also play local tennis ball matches. Most of my free time is spent driving the auto to support my training and other expenses. To be selected by UTCA for further training will motivate me to improve further,' the 18-year-old said.
The cricketer had also saved money to watch his idol Virat Kohli play for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Punjab Kings in an IPL match at Mullanpur last month. 'I save money to watch Virat play. Hopefully the team will win the play-offs matches here and I will try to get a ticket for the matches at Mullanpur. I hope Virat sir wins the IPL trophy this time in the final at Ahmedabad,' Shahbaz concluded.
Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story 'Harmans of Moga', Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women's cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships.
An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin's interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More
