Dhoni got me tickets to the India-Pak match: Mohammad Bashir

“The hatred between India and Pakistan is due to politics. During our childhood, we were told to keep away from Indians but once I came here, I realised how wrong I was,” says Mohammad Bashir —the current mascot for the Pakistan cricket team after ‘Chacha Cricket’. Bashir recently visited India for the ICC World Twenty20, he was there at the stands cheering at the India v/s Pakistan match.

Bashir is a man of many stories. He left Karachi in 1977 and is currently based in Chicago. He runs a restaurant there named Ghareeb Nawaz which specialises in Hyderabadi biryani. Love for cricket pulled him to stadiums across the world and he came to India for the first time in 2011 for ICC World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan.

“Kharab log toh hote hai, aapke bhi hai, hamare bhi hai (there are bad people in this world, you have them, we have them as well),” says Bashir Chacha as he is fondly called. “My wife is from Hyderabad. She keeps persuading me to come here. I came with a lot of passion in 2011. We all thought Pakistan would win the match,” recalls Bashir, who — during that tour — made friends with none other than India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. In fact, during the recent India-Pakistan clash, when he could not get his hands on tickets, it was Dhoni who came to his rescue.

“A man came with a white envelope came to me and said, ‘Yeh Mahi ne diya hai (Mahi sent this for you). I was extremely touched,” says the 63-year-old, who predicted India’s victory against Pakistan at Eden Gardens on March 19.

“People in Pakistan may not like that I said that but one needs to accept that this Indian team is very compact. Pakistan cannot beat this team,” says Bashir.

Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi got into trouble after he openly declared his love for India, when he landed here for the T20 tournament. Bashir calls it an honest statement. “In Pakistan, more than 90 per cent of the families watch Indian television channels, they cry watching the soaps and serials and that includes my wife too. I can’t even ask for tea during those hours. If Afridi said he loves India, he spoke from his heart. Indian films run so well in Pakistan and are so popular, aap kahan kahan mohabbat karne se roko gey (how will you stop the love)?” he says.