Londoner Aamir Malik pursued a career in IT engineering at a young age and started with Apple. Worked for 10 years and joined the British media group ‘Mirror’, after which he got a job in the prestigious newspaper Financial Times, where the journalists were impressed by Amir Malik’s knowledge of cricket. He was encouraged to write for a newspaper about cricket.
Aamir Malik started writing about cricket part-time and over the years became a full-time cricket writer. He currently writes for Sports360 in Dubai and Wisden Cricket Magazine in the UK. Recently he was a guest on Independent Urdu’s podcast ‘Ek Cup Chai Crossing Cultures’.
Chatting with hosts Mim Shaikh and Ali Hamza, Aamir Malik said that he was initially inspired by Pakistani spinner Saqlain Mushtaq to write cricket, whom he met in London and remains one of his closest confidants till date. . Among such friends is Pakistani all-rounder Azhar Mehmood, who today plays golf with Amir Malik and is guiding his nephew to become a national cricketer.
At the very beginning of the conversation, Aamir Malik admitted that like most British youngsters, he was fond of football, but a cousin took him to watch a cricket match. From there, interest in cricket arose and started playing at the local level. The hobby grew and he played league cricket in England from 1992 to 2011, during which he also captained Newham CC. On one occasion, he went to Sharjah and practiced with the Pakistani cricket team.
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Imran Khan, the captain of the Pakistani cricket team that won the World Cup in 1992, remained a favorite, but the players of the same team impressed him the most. While playing the league, he used to try to copy the style of fast bowler Waqar Younis. Saim Ayub is considered a rising star in Pakistan’s new team.
Many cricket series between Pakistan and England became controversial. According to Amir Malik, there were only conflicts in the eighties and nineties, in which he decided to represent Pakistan after seeing the one-sided attitude of the British media. Calling this behavior ‘imperial mentality’, however, he said that he himself did not face any kind of discrimination and racism while playing cricket in the UK.
Regarding equal opportunities for British Pakistanis in cricket, Aamir Malik was of the opinion that creating separate community teams in the game is not the solution to the problem, but British youngsters of Pakistani origin should work hard to get a place on the basis of merit in the league, county and national teams. .
A Cup of Tea Crossing Cultures is a London-based podcast by Independent Urdu that aims to highlight the success stories of people of Pakistani and South Asian origin in the UK. The podcast explores the fabric of cultural identity of British citizens of South Asian descent.