Sport can change life for the better. Sunrisers Hyderabad's Zeeshan Ansari can vouch for it. Born to a family in Lucknow with limited means, the legbreak googly bowler solely lifted the family comprising 19 members from poverty trap to give them a punching chance at life.

It all started with Zeeshan playing on the streets with other kids at Chaudhary Tola, Aliganj more than a decade ago. Zeeshan's father, Mohammed Naeem, along with his brothers - Mohammed Gayas and Mohammed Chand - had minimal exposure to education. Like their father Noor Mohammed, they became tailors.

"We all started accompanying our father to our shop named 'New Noor Mohammed Ladies Tailor' shop at IT Chauraha from a very young age," father Naeem told this daily.

All three brothers have been living together since the beginning and the family now has 12 children, three couples and their grandmother.

The shop was frequented by athletes as they used to gather at the place in their leisure time. "I used to see them and think they have a good life. They have a government job which has given them social security so I thought why can't my children become athletes. Zeeshan was playing on the streets then, so I requested Kanhaiya Lal, a national level footballer, a regular visitor to our shop, to find a coach for my son.

He helped us in getting Zeeshan admitted to his first academy," added the father.

Kanhaiya, who works with the Indian Postal Department and is now secretary of the Lucknow Football Association, remembered the day when he took then 12-year-old Zeeshan to coach Abhay Singh. "I took him to coach Abhay Singh who was coaching at Chowk Stadium. The academy was around 8 km from his home and Zeeshan used to board a tempo traveller to reach the place. He trained there for almost one-and-a-half-years but the distance was too much for him to commute everyday.

I talked to coach Ajay Verma, who was at the Lucknow Development Authority Cricket Coaching Centre. That centre was closer to Zeeshan's home," said Kanhaiya.

Zeeshan first trained with Verma and then coach Gopal Singh came in and played a big role in him playing school level cricket. "He used to fox batters with his leg spin and coach Singh knew he could do better in school cricket competitions. So he started sending him for such competitions where he succeeded. It all started from there," said the father.The refurbished house

Naeem's younger brother, Gayas, was the one who used to pick and drop Zeeshan at the academy on some occasions. "He used to come to shop and some days I used to drop him to the academy. I used to watch him play at times. There I was told that he is a good bowler. We saw him troubling batters on the street but when he started outclassing batters at the academy, we got convinced that he can play for Uttar Pradesh. By then Mantasha Ansari, daughter of my elder brother, Mohammed Chand, had started playing basketball and even got selected in the national camp.

This also motivated Zeeshan to do better. We also thought if Zeeshan can play for the state and manage to land a government job, then he can support us financially. So, we all started contributing towards his cricketing journey in whatever way we could," said Gayas, who has three children, one daughter and two sons.

The structure that housed the big family was in a dilapidated state and needed urgent repair but with limited resources, they were forced to make do with it.

Meanwhile, Zeeshan was improving by leaps and bounds and soon was picked up in the Indian squad for the 2016 Under-19 World Cup. He played the tournament alongside the likes of Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan. Featuring in the event also meant he got financial reward, which he used in constructing his house.

"The money he got for playing in the U-19 World Cup was used in constructing the house as the old one was in a ruin. The house where we are living at the moment was constructed by Zeeshan," the proud said.Zeeshan's father, Naeem, with the trophies his son has won across all age-group tournaments

The stint with U-19 team also opened the door for Zeeshan to make entry into the senior state side as he made his first class debut for Uttar Pradesh in 2017. He has played five first class matches so far, picking up 17 wickets . He made his T20 debut against Uttarakhand in Delhi in 2019. However, a few indifferent performances coupled with the selectors preferring other players meant Zeeshan last featured for UP in their Ranji Trophy match against Tamil Nadu at Kanpur in January 2020.

UP T20 League to the rescue

However, the inaugural UP T20 League brought him back into contention as he topped the wicket charts claiming 24 scalps from 12 games at an economy rate of 7.60. He returned with impressive figures of 4-0-20-1 in the final to help his team, Meerut Mavericks, lift the crown. Captain Rinku Singh used to hand him the ball up front and at the death and Zeeshan never disappointed him as he used to trick batters with his googlies.

The superlative show at the state league brought him on IPL scouts radar and SRH picked him up for the 2025 season by picking him up for `40lakh.

The family, however, was not sure whether he would be bought by any IPL franchises. "Twice he didn't get a buyer. Somewhere we had a belief that he would be bought as he did well in the UP T20 League but doubts were there as he was not picked in the past. But we were ecstatic once he was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad," said uncle Gayas. The family members were on cloud nine when Zeeshan made his IPL debut.The family's old house

Financial security

Having gone through the hardships due to financial constraints, Zeeshan knows how important it is to have a fall back option. He always wanted to give his family a constant source of income. In his quest to provide that option to the family despite his on field struggles, he had got their shop repaired when he refurbished their house. "He rebuilt the shop. We have now rented it out. We have taken another shop in the basement on rent. The rent which we get is enough for the day-to-day expenses of the family," said Gayas.

Speaking on the contractual sum Zeeshan got in the IPL, both father and uncle said: "He wants to marry off his sisters from the money. He is the one who is looking after all of us and he is quite calculated in that sense. He doesn't want to waste the amount."

Zeeshan's younger brother, Farhan, used to be an athlete but has now started helping his father and uncle in their tailoring profession. The youngest brother, Ghufran, is pursuing cricket and a leg break bowler like Zeeshan. Hopefully for the Ansari family, he also makes it big.