The standing ovation that made Aamir Kaleem's long journey worth it

In October last year, Aamir Kaleem's playing days seemed behind him. He was 42, and he had found his calling as a coach, steering Oman to the title at the Under-19 World Cup Division 2 Asia Qualifiers in Thailand a few months earlier.

And then, out of the blue, he was called in to the Oman Cricket headquarters after 11 top players had withdrawn from the squad hours before their campaign at the Emerging Asia Cup in Muscat. The 11 included Aqib Ilyas, the then captain, and Zeeshan Maqsood, a former captain. It was in protest against the non-payment of the prize money from their T20 World Cup in the USA and the Caribbean last June. The crisis threatened to deplete Oman's already shallow pool. It's in these circumstances that Kaleem decided to return to action.

On Friday at the Asia Cup, Kaleem, now 43, walked off to a standing ovation at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi after he had given India a scare. His 46-ball 64 at the top of the order in Oman's chase of 189 felt like a bigger innings than it was; he certainly celebrated it like it was a century.

Kaleem fought through cramps, a bout of dehydration, and a blow to the helmet off the leading edge. He already had wonky knees. But the determination to try and get Oman over the line willed him on. The same determination that had brought him from Karachi to Oman in 2004, when he took up a job as a delivery specialist at a mattress company, loading and unloading shipments in the searing summer heat that would leave him with blisters.

The turnaround came a few years later when he took up a job at a restaurant chain called "Passage to India", whose owner was a cricket enthusiast and ran a club team. When Kaleem told him of his passion, KK Mohandas, who ran the club, sponsored his kit, and took care of his clothes and leaves from work to help him follow his passion.

In 2012, Kaleem debuted for Oman.

Thirteen years later, Kaleem, along with his captain Jatinder Singh, were dreaming the impossible. All the nights toiling away in anonymity, at their offices and clubs, with little hope of cricket rewarding them... would it all bear fruit?

Three weeks ago, Kaleem was Player of the Tournament in Oman's domestic T20 final. Here he was on Friday, playing the innings of his life - slashing Hardik Pandya, scooping Harshit Rana, sweeping Kuldeep Yadav, thumping Shivam Dube - the highlights reel of which is unlikely to be erased from his mind, ever.

As he brought up his half-century off 38 balls, he took his helmet off, waved his bat to all corners of the ground, did the sajdah and refocused. At the other end, when Hammad Mirza slog-swept Kuldeep for back-to-back sixes, the Oman dressing room was buoyant. They needed 40 off 16 - it needed a miracle, but no one had even given them a chance to get this far.

It needed an incredible catch at the fine-leg boundary by Hardik to end Kaleem's stay. By then, the equation or the result hardly mattered. Kaleem's exhaustion to the point of being slightly dazed, along with the satisfaction of having run India close was writ large on his face.

"He's the most energetic on the field or at training," Jatinder said afterwards of Kaleem. "He's the most disciplined guy, even though he's 40-plus. On the field, he's electrifying. He brings in great energy, and he's also very skilful. We're so grateful he's part of our team."

Jatinder himself was on the brink of retirement not long ago following a back injury, until the unexpected turn of events led to him being named Oman captain.

Shah Faisal, the left-arm seamer who hails from Dir in Pakistan - the same as Naseem Shah - came to Oman to earn a living, like everyone else, until cricket found a way back into his life. Ditto with Jiten Ramanandi, who once played an inter-club game against Hardik at the Moti Baug Stadium in Vadodara. Their stories are similar, even the same.

As the curtain came down on Oman's Asia Cup, assistant coach Sulakshan Kulkarni quietly asked Suryakumar Yadav if he could spare some time with his boys. Suryakumar gesticulated towards the Oman dugout, and in a jiffy, the entire team huddled around him.

"I am so thankful that he came and had a chat with the boys," Jatinder said. "He was just talking about the game and the different phases, how you have to play in the T20s. That is what the boys were just asking. It was like a question-and-answer session. He was really praising the team a lot."

Jatinder looked back at their campaign fondly, even though Oman head home without a win. "Our team lacked a bit of experience and exposure," he said. "This was a perfect platform for them to just see where they stood and they did not hold anything [back]. They showed great character in front of the world No. 1 team. So the boys will take a lot of positives out of it. We are an Associate nation. The reality is [that] we do not get to play with the Test-playing nations. So we are so fortunate to get this platform."

Jatinder is hoping that the next step would be to get some exposure in domestic tournaments in India, or the chance to train in a high-performance environment somewhere.

"If we can get India coming forward, and allow us to make their home as our home, where we can train there, go to the NCA and work with skilled trainers, work on the mental aspect, fitness, it'll be great," he said. "Also, the exposure against club teams, matches against Ranji teams - that'll definitely help us fill the gap."

Oman have little time to reflect on the fight they showed against India. In ten days, they will regroup to play the T20 World Cup qualifiers, where they will hope to be among the three teams that eventually make it to the main event in India and Sri Lanka next year.

Until then, they can revel in the happiness of having run India close, and mull over the lessons from Suryakumar and several other Indian players, who obliged their star-struck opponents, even though there was a long journey to be made from Abu Dhabi to Dubai late at night.