Quiet Amla adds Indian flair to South Africa

During the Durban Test, a photo exhibition will be on display to mark 150 years of Indians in South Africa. It is a wonderful look at a history that began when the Truro, a British ship, arrived with 339 indentured migrants from Madras (as the city of Chennai was then known) on November 16, 1860. The pictures show how over the years the Indians went from working on sugar plantations to moving on to more enterprising work, such as washing clothes or making baskets, to renting land to grow fruits and vegetables.

There are photos of characters such as the "Gov", who looked after gardens in Newcastle in the twenties and the thirties, of the scenes outside the courthouse when Ebrahim Ebrahim was sent to prison in Robben Island, of the 1949 riots when the Indians fought with the Africans for scarce resources, of Fatima Seedat marshalling a group of women for the first time in the political arena, of how Nelson Mandela's first stop in Durban upon his release was the house of Fatima and Ismail Meer, and more recently of Bollywood actress Preity Zinta coming here for the IPL and throwing gifts into the Kingsmead crowd. There is also one of Yacoob Omar, considered the finest batsman in non-racial circles in the seventies.

The story, though, will be incomplete without the photograph of a bearded man punching the ball square on the off side, playing slightly away from the body, on the up, with an open face. Alternatively, the punch on the leg side will do too, with the bat face closing at just the right moment. Especially when that man, the most Indian of batsmen, is about to play his 50th Test, about to bring up the milestone at the venue where the most Indian of techniques was developed. When he started off, he was the only cricketer of Indian origin to ever play a Test for South Africa; today only 14 men from his country have more caps.

At the same time, despite the diversity that his style of play and demeanour bring to the team, Hashim Amla is still every bit a South African. While Hashim has toured India, Ahmed Amla, his elder brother and Dolphins team-mate, hasn't even been there. They understand the Gujarati language, but can't speak it. Ahmed will not be here for the start of the Test, but says he will make sure he is here to watch if Hashim is batting in the second innings. Then again if Hashim makes one of his big first innings scores - and he has had a few this year - he might not need to bat in the second. Some of those innings have come in the country that his grandfather left years ago.

Ahmed says it wasn't as difficult for them when they were growing up as it might seem from the outside. "We missed that era when it was difficult for people of colour," he said. "It would have been difficult for somebody like Ashwell Prince, who was older than us, and would have started playing serious cricket around 1992." Ahmed still went to an Indian school while Hashim studied in Durban High School. "He studied in an integrated school, played with and against white and other coloured kids. It does have a huge impact on the personality. Also, Durban High School was the one that Barry Richards went to - it had a great cricketing culture and history."

Ahmed can't quite put a finger on the time when the brothers became serious about cricketing careers, but it started in the backyard where - at times - he would get out and run away, not giving Hashim a bat. Although cricket didn't run in the family, Mahomed H Amla, a doctor in Durban, played a big role. He would drive them to grounds once they started taking it seriously.

Observers here say that Mahomed never pushed the kids too hard, but Hashim turned out to be really mentally strong. When Hashim was first picked for the South African side, he saw the jersey and refused to put it on because it had the Castle (beer manufacturers and team sponsors) logo on it. They had seen this mental strength in how he used to bat on for days in Durban, but this - for a debutant to cross the team sponsors - was the real deal. It takes a strong man to refuse your national cricket team's jersey. He still doesn't drink, but is very much a part of a team where celebrations start with a pint.

"He was always strong in the head, more disciplined than me," Ahmed said. "And once the rest of them get to know the person, they understand too."

More than matters of belief and faith, perhaps it was difficult to establish a style that was foreign in this country. South Africa has produced some mighty fine batsmen, but this was new. The high back lift, the extravagant punches that look risky at first viewing, the wrists. There was a period when it seemed he had been found out. Ahmed says that was Hashim's big test, and it all came down to feeling comfortable at the big level. "Once he felt he belonged there, there was no trouble at all."

Hashim has also been wary of not becoming the public face of anything larger than what he does best, score runs. He has always kept away from the media, prefers not to talk about his background much, and quietly, albeit with a certain flair and charm, keeps scoring runs. Ahmed, though, has seen a change. "The kids now see one of them is there, about to play his 50th Test. It was bound to make many more of them take up cricket."

Barring an injury, Ahmed said, 50 Tests is not even the half-way point in Hashim's journey. Here's to at least 50 more.