What Azhar did for Muslims

There were Muslim cricketers in the Indian team before him but Mohammad Azharuddin was the one that the community identified with

Nishi Narayanan

25-Feb-2013

Azhar’s performance undercut the appeal of Muslims-support-Pakistan rhetoric © Getty Images

There were Muslim cricketers in the Indian team before him but Mohammad Azharuddin was the one that the community identified with. He became a symbol of hope for Muslims, drawing them into the mainstream, making them believe that talent is recognised and awarded in secular India. Not just in cricket, but in other fields, in jobs, in life, writes Rohit Mahajan in the Outlook magazine.

After him, there was a deluge—Zaheer Khan, Mohammed Kaif, the Pathan brothers, Munaf Patel. Indeed, the Azhar phenomenon helped instil confidence among Muslims, enabling them to brush aside taunts from Hindu chauvinists. It worked equally on non-Muslims—Azhar’s performance undercut the appeal of, say, Bal Thackeray to Hindus susceptible to the Muslims-support-Pakistan rhetoric.

India

Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo