Oman’s men’s cricket captain Aqib Ilyas takes a deep breath and says “Mujhe laga zindagi aur cricket dono khatam (I thought life and cricket are over for me).” The top order batsman and leg break bowler, is grateful he even made it.
The 31-year-old who takes over national captaincy for the first time, still remembers when a doctor holding his X-rays and CAT scan reports broke the news to him that the acute pain he was suffering on his left ankle was a cancerous tumour.
“It was scary. I’d gone numb,” he narrates his story to The Indian Express in an exclusive interview ahead of Oman’s match against Namibia.
“A few months ago, just before we played in the T20 World Cup (2021), I had lost one of my closest friends to the same illness. He too had a tumour in the same left ankle and he couldn’t survive. When the doctor informed me, it was like my entire world had come crashing down. I had no hope, forget about walking again or playing cricket. Pehla khayal ye aaya ki mai zinda rahunga ya nahi (First thought that crossed my mind was whether I’d be able to make it).
“I remember I texted Duleep Mendis (Oman coach) from the car and wrote ‘Sir, I am done with my cricket, doctors have told me that the swelling is cancer. And I switched off my mobile,” he recalls.
Aqib’s family was in Sialkot, Pakistan, where his father was also not well. His younger brother and a cousin noticed something is wrong.
“When my brother asked me what happened, I started crying. They panicked and called me home,” says Ilyas.
“After a couple of days, I got a call from Pankaj Khimji (chairman of Oman Cricket) that the board will take care of everything and asked me where I wanted to do my treatment. He wanted me to go to London, I asked him can I go back to Pakistan instead. I wanted to be with my family. The doctor flew to Lahore, where I was admitted at Doctors Hospital and did the surgery.
“Surgery was complex, given the bone had grown misshapen around the tumour. But he received the good news that it was benign. And then I understood the difference between malignant and benign tumours. He comforted my family that there was a chance of recovery and I could play cricket but there was no definite timeline,” says Ilyas.
Slow and tiring process
If lying on a hospital bed was frustrating for Ilays the rehab was also very slow. It took him eight months to walk without crutches and 18 months to return to the cricket field.
“First of all I was grateful that I survived. The rehab process was tiring. I guess I was trying hard to recover but cancer is something that takes time to heal. I was very weak, I had lost so much weight. I told myself, okay, my legs are fine, doctors have said I can play cricket again. It was just a matter of weeks. It took me 18 months,” he laughs.
In his first competitive match, Ilyas scored 52 against Ireland in the ODI World Cup qualifier. Two days later, he scored 53 against the UAE.
“The first fifty against Ireland is the most special. After almost one and a half years, I was returning to the cricket ground and I managed to perform well,” he says.
Playing cricket in Oman
Last month Aqib was named as Oman’s captain when the squad for the T20 World Cup was announced. He replaced Zeeshan Maqsood, who had led the team since the 2016 T20 World Cup.
“It’s a big thing for us to qualify into the World T20, and to be able to compete against all the top teams. I am motivated to lead Oman, a country where I grew up, and learnt cricket. As a unit we have worked hard over the years. We want to win the games, starting from the Namibia match,” says Ilyas.
Aqib’s brother Adnan (Ilyas) had also represented Oman in 12 T20Is. He says “Khoon mey hai cricket (It is in our blood). He adds “My elder brother Babar Illyas was a very good cricketer. He played in Pakistan. But unfortunately, he had to stop playing the game due to a certain situation in the family. Then we moved to Oman when my second eldest brother Adnan was nine and I was six months old.”
“We have not played cricket in Pakistan. It all started on a cement track in Muscat, where we use to live. If I am not wrong Adnan was the first to play for the national team, who grew up playing cricket in Oman. He is my inspiration,” says Ilyas.
The homegrown talent
The Oman captain admits cricket has changed drastically in the past five years in Oman.
“Cricket was not a big thing. The weather is very harsh. There was no infrastructure. When my brother was playing, he used to do other jobs to make ends meet, because you used to get nothing from cricket. The former cricketers used to play cricket just for the sake of passion,” he says.
After representing Oman in U-19, Aqib Ilyas’ university studies brought him to Dubai, where he played a lot of cricket and was even offered to play for the UAE.
“I played a lot of T20 cricket for four years in Dubai. Then I was picked for Oman.
“Things were the same as it was before. After two years, Pankaj Khimji became the chairman and Duleep Mendis became the coach. They set a roadmap and turned things around. Now Oman has one of the best infrastructures, the facilities are top class. That’s why we are doing well in all the age groups be it men’s or women’s. It’s not a miracle,” he recollects.
On Monday, he will lead Oman for the first time, when they will take on Namibia at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. He still feels pain in his left ankle and has been advised to stay away from intense training.
“Cancer has left a scar for life. I still feel the pain, when I train too much. But the pain is nothing because at one point I feared that my leg would be amputated or I would be dead. I am alive, walking on my feet, playing cricket and will lead my country tomorrow,” he says with renewed hope.