Roshan Mahanama keeps his promise of meeting a boy in Mumbai

By Bipin Dani

Former Sri Lanka captain and ICC Elite Panel Match Referee Roshan Mahanama met a young cricket enthusiast Arsalaan Akhtar at his home in Mumbai recently and shared with him the experience as a cricketer and in life as well.

This was revealed by Arsalaan’s father Talha Mohsin.

“My 11-year-old son, Arsalaan Akhtar, is a budding cricketer and his only dream is to play for India. The last two years were really tough for him as his cricket academy was shut due to Covid. He was extremely tense and worried as he was losing out on all the training”, the father explains.

During his father’s recent visit to Sri Lanka, he met the 1996 World Cup winning team member Mahanama.

“I told him about my Arsalaan and asked him if he could record a video message for him. He promised me that whenever he’s down in India next, he’ll meet him personally instead of just recording a 10-15 second video message. He told me that it would be far more motivational”.

“I thought such a big man would naturally forget about it, especially when he’s busy helping people of Sri Lanka during a state of great disturbance, confusion, and uncertainty. But I was wrong. Now,  something I never expected happened. I got a call from Roshan Sir to inform me that he’s in India for some important work but he will try to take out time to meet my son. We met and he spent a good 2 hours talking about cricket with my son. He shared his childhood stories. The lessons he got from his coach. The sacrifices he made to become an International Cricket player. He also spoke about how important proper cricketing shots are and it’s not just about playing the ball in the air”.

Father adds, “It was like a Masterclass on cricket and also on how to be a better person. From basics of cricket to leadership skills. From the importance of discipline to passion. He heard all his questions patiently and answered each one of them. Not only my son, even I learned a lot in those 2 hours”.

In the end, when we were saying goodbye, my son told him how he still can’t believe that he got so many lessons from a World Champion like Roshan Mahanama. To this, Roshan Sir said, “This is one more leadership lesson, son. Always stay true to your word. I promised your father so I had to fulfill it.”

“My son is feeling extremely pumped up after meeting a great man and an even better human being. him. He’s practicing even more, all thanks to Roshan Sir!”, the father concluded.