ABU DHABI/UAE – For over two decades he has put his money where his mouth is and invested millions of dollars into the development of cricket in the United States.
Mahammad Ahmed Qureshi (MAQ) has become a household name in the United States when it comes to cricket. He is also well known in Canada and certain countries in the West Indies. However, it came as a complete surprise when cricket player Dowlath Azidi came up and asked how is the Big Man in cricket in the United States Mr. Qureshi, during the ICC World T20 here in the UAE.
On further probing Azidi said he has never met the man but hopes that he gets tremendous blessings for what he has done for cricket in the United States. Azidi said: “I read somewhere that this man has spent his own millions in helping cricket in the US and I cannot believe this. First I thought that he was part of the ruling body for cricket in America. Then I came to realise that he is not and that he just loves cricket and want people to have chance to play there.”
Azidi who was born in Afghanistan is now settled in Abu Dhabi and says that the passion that Qureshi has for cricket is amazing and it must be replicated in other parts of the world. “We have too many selfish people in cricket. They put their names up for administration because they want to serve themselves and see what they can get and not really care about the sport or the people who play it.”
Azidi added that he is near the end of his playing days and is not interested in playing cricket in America but would like to meet Qureshi just to tell him mihrbaanii (thank you) for what he has done for all cricketers who he has ever helped.
Qureshi has spent in excess of US$25M into the development of cricket in the United States through his very popular US Open T20 tournament and also academies and the USA/ Maq T10 Nationals.
