RAWALPINDI: Altaf Ahmad attaches his artificial leg as trainees gather at a cricket school in Rawalpindi, waiting for him to teach them batting.

“I promised myself that I would never find weakness in my disability,” he told Arab News, as he narrated how he underwent amputation 12 years ago after being shot in the leg in an attempted robbery. 

He succeeded in getting over initial depression, and in the new situation discovered his superpower: Innovativeness.

The 38-year-old government employee has always been a good cricketer and used to represent his department at various tournaments. Once a person develops a passion for cricket, it stays forever. Ahmad knew disability could not stop him and devised a machine that would allow him to continue training.

“After I was shot, I was thinking about my future life, and suddenly it came to my mind to make a bowling machine. I bought all that was needed to construct it and in six months I had it ready,” he said, recalling how people would laugh at him for spending large sums to see his concept materialize. 

“The result was like I planned it, which made me really excited, and then I started to make new, better machines.”

He could train again, without depending on others, and soon joined Pakistan’s disabled cricked team, with which he remained for some six years, representing the country at international matches. 

But later decided to make more use out of his machines to also serve others. 

In 2015, Ahmad opened Speedster Cricket Academy — an indoor cricket school in Rawalpindi — with a mission “to polish talent.”

Dozens of players, some of them aged as little as four years, come for each training session, he said. 

Innovativeness paved for Ahmad a completely new path, he said.

“I started a new life, and now I am even earning decent money to support my family.”