From a welder to Test hero, Mohammad Abbas is living the dream

Mohammad Abbas is exactly where he dreamed to be, but perhaps not many would have believed him when some years ago, working in a leather factory, he told them he would play cricket for Pakistan one day.

Today, the 28-year-old medium pacer shook Australia to hand a comprehensive 373-run victory to his team.

Running away with Man-of-the-Match as well as Man-of-the-Series awards, Abbas could not have dreamed of a better tour. He followed up his first innings figures of 5-33 with 5-62 in the second innings of the second and final Test to wrap up a brilliant tour with a total of 17 wickets.

A decade ago, Abbas was working as an office boy in a court, registering documents for cases related to real estate. Before that, he was a welder and a factory worker. In Abbas’ own words, his challenging life set him up for a career in cricket.

“My life before cricket was very challenging but those struggles helped me in cricket because when I came into the sport I had become mature enough to deal with the problems,” he told The Telegraph earlier this year.

“When I was working at the court I got selected for district under-19 cricket. They asked me to choose between job or cricket. I cannot forget that night. But a friend, who was a lawyer too, made a case of doing both things together.”

From there, the doors began to open. “The team had to choose between me and the secretary’s son, and the decision was made through a toss,” he revealed in the interview. “It went in my favour and I got five wickets. After that I got into the region’s academy and there was no stopping after that.”

For Abbas, who hails from Sambrial Tehsil in Sialkot District, cricket has been his lifeline ever since the youngest years of his life.

“He has been a cricket fanatic since childhood. I never stopped him,” his proud father Mohammad Ilyas told Geo News.

Even during the gruelling years spent working as a welder, Abbas never left cricket, even when it meant heading straight to the cricket grounds after longs hours in the factory.

Known for bowling his precise wicket-to-wicket deliveries, Abbas idolises Glenn McGrath, Shaun Pollock, and James Anderson for their lines and lengths. He also played Grade II cricket for two years with Mohammad Asif, who he says influenced his bowling significantly.