‘Keep inspiring’: Sachin Tendulkar meets his un-armed hero Amir Hussain

When a peak Sachin Tendulkar was wielding the willow like a wand in the late ’90s, a young cricket lover in Kashmir was grappling with the shock of losing both his arms in an accident at his father’s mill.

A quarter century on, their two vastly contrasting worlds have collided. The Mumbai maestro this week kept his date with his “real hero”, Amir Hussain, now a 34-year-old member of the Indian para cricket team who grips the bat between his neck and shoulder and bowls with his feet.

Sachin, who was on a whirlwind vacation in the Valley with his family sometime this week, hosted Amir and his wife and child at a hotel here, gifted him a bat and expressed his admiration for him.

“To Amir, the real hero. Keep inspiring!” the Master Blaster posted on social media on Saturday, sharing the video of their meeting.

“Nobody does what you have done. That is why I asked for your age at the time (when the accident happened). You said your age was eight,” Sachin tells Amir in the video.

“An eight-year-old boy faced such challenges, such trauma, mental trauma. To overcome that and become an inspiration for others is a very big achievement. Perhaps you don’t know what you have done…. It was a pleasure meeting you.”

It appears that Sachin became a fan of Amir after watching a video last month.