Who says, religion has no place in sports? At least South African batsman Hashim Amla thinks differently. Amla believes Islam has lot do with his cricketing success. How? To know read on this Cricket360 article.

Hashim Amla is not just famous for his stroke-rich batting, but also for the statement he makes with his jovial character and his most impressive beard. Add to this the black goggles and clean shaven head and Amla cuts the most unusual appearance in the arena of International Cricket. No wonder Australian cricketer turned commentator Dean Jones tempted to call him by the name “terrorist”. But with his characteristic good humor, this twenty five years old shook it off rather coolly. He admits though, somewhere “it pains” being stereotyped.

Amla is a man of rare integrity. Living in an age when world has ceased to see any difference between Islam and terrorism, Amla doesn’t hesitate to flaunt his religious identity. He is bold enough to openly declare the positive role of religion on his career. While not claiming to be a saint actually, he says, he does follow the teachings of Islam whole heartedly. An Islamic way of life devoid of drinking does help him keep fit as a cricketer. Praying five times a day adds to the stability of his daily routine---claims Amla. And this strict adherence to Islamic practices makes him generally more disciplined about cricket as well as his life.

He attributes his recent success against England and India to religion. Starting from the Test series against NewZealand last year, his back to back centuries have helped him touch a score of 57 Test average. Add to this the ravishing score of 663 during the England tour with a brilliant average of 73.66 and there is no doubt why he is the frontrunner in the race for the top slot in South African team.

Cricket and religion is as different as chalk and cheese; but for Amla, religion seems to be the driving force behind his brilliant cricket scores. In his personal life, he is a good human being too who can laugh it away when people say he owes his entry to the south African Cricket Team to the quota system or gets ridiculed for his bearded appearance and things like that. Despite all these he clings to what he believes and this is something the world should learn from him. When lots of destructions are going around in the name of Islam and the rest of the world is actually paranoid about Islamic terrorism, Amla stands for all things constructive in his religion. He dares to defy the Western phobia of Islam through his bat.  Indeed, this South African batsman deserves to be an icon for the Muslim youth.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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