Hameed Kherkhah: Serving his country from beyond the boundary when he could have from inside the ground

Hameed Kherkhah is not just an ordinary supporter; he is also a cricketer who was on verge of playing for Afghanistan.

Under the famous Jack Fingleton scoreboard at the Manuka Oval, the Afghanistan supporters chanted “Afghanistan Zindabad” even before the first bowled was delivered in their team’s World Cup 2015 match against Bangladesh.

One of the fans leading the chant is Hameed Kherkhah. He has an Afghanistan flag and he is wearing the Afghanistan jersey that was gifted to him by the national team last year.

Kherkhah is not just an ordinary supporter; he is also a cricketer who was on verge of playing for Afghanistan. Based in Sydney along with his family, last year while the national team was touring Australia, he had an opportunity to play with Afghanistan team.

An off-spinner, Kherkhah is capable of handling the bat. He was asked to come and trial with Afghanistan team last year back at the national academy in Kabul.

“He would have accepted the invite, but my parents decided not to send him due to safety and the political reasons. We have been in Australia for over 20 years, our parents left Kabul when the Russians invaded Afghanistan. My family knew what the country was like. So they thought it was better off not sending him there,” said Hameed’s brother Khalif

The opportunity was not lost. Last year he was chosen for the T20 Big Bash team, Sydney Thunder under a rookie contract. The contract meant he was able to train with Thunder team mates on few occasions.

In September 2014, the Afghanistan team toured Australia and that is when Kherkhah got a chance to showcase his skills in front of his mother country. The coaching panel was impressed and advised him to return to Afghanistan, which Kherkhah refused.

The opportunity might have slipped, but today at the Manuka Oval, Kherkhah was still in high spirits cheering from the fence with 100 people.

“We have four buses that have come from Sydney, plus there are so many people who have driven 300 kms to watch the opening match, it has been a memorable day.”

Clearly, Kherkhah is supporting Afghanistan — if not as a player, at least as a vocal supporter.

(Gaurav Joshi is an Indian-born Australian who played with Michael Clarke in his junior days. He coaches and reports for a Sydney radio station. Over the years he has freelanced for Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and is a regular on ABC cricket show Cow Corner. He is the author of the book “Teen Thunder Down Under” – The inside story of India’s 2012 U19 World Cup Triumph)

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