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'You can't change your destiny. If something has to happen, it will'

Syed Saba Karim, who was hit below his right eye by a rising delivery from Anil Kumble while keeping wickets during India's opening match against Bangladesh in the ongoing Asia Cup, returned to Calcutta on Wednesday night.

Kumble's googly shot up from a good length and grazed the flap of Bangladesh batsman Habibul Bashar's pad before hitting Karim's face. The injury ruled the Bengal wicketkeeper-batsman out of further action in the tournament.

A visibly dejected Karim, who was rushed home and then flown to the well known Shankar Netralaya eye clinic in Madras for treatment, is worried that he may lose sight in the affected eye forever.

Rifat Jawaid managed to get a few minutes with the 32-year-old cricketer at his New Alipore residence in Calcutta as he prepared to travel to Madras. Excerpts from the conversation:

Saba, how disappointed are you after the eye injury?

I am extremely disappointed that such an unfortunate thing occurred to me on the opening day of our match in the Asia Cup. The wicket was relatively bouncy, but not as hard as one would expect Anil's googly to rise so high. Had the ball not deflected off Habibul's pad, it would have straightaway come into my gloves. It was was, indeed, a painful blow as it hit right on my eye. Thankfully, the cricket ball was too big to actually injure the eyeball.

What were the observations of the eye surgeons in Bangladesh?

Initially I was taken to a local clinic in Dhaka where they did a preliminary scanning of my eye. Then at Labaid, a better-known laboratory of Dhaka, I underwent a CT scan. Doctors there asked me not to get alarmed as they didn't find anything serious in the report. Ophthalmologists at Labaid felt that I had suffered internal bleeding. However, one doctor told me that I might even lose my eyesight. God forbid it doesn't happen that way.

Isn't it a major setback to your cricketing career? After all, you have been in out of the national side for years. The Asia Cup would have been the perfect occasion for you to establish your position as a wicketkeeper-batsman in the squad...

Yeah, that's right. But you can't change your destiny. If something has to happen, it will, and no one is capable of changing its destiny. It's all Allah's will. Moreover, such occurrences, though unfortunate, are part of cricket. Eye surgeons in Calcutta have advised me to go to Chennai's Shankar Netralaya clinic for thorough treatment. They say I'll be okay within the next six weeks.

Rahul Dravid kept wickets for India for the rest of the match. Has the team management requested for a replacement?

Yes. Manager Samiran Chakraborty, who accompanied me from Dhaka to Calcutta, said that Nayan (Mongia) was already on his way to join rest of the team.

So, your position in the team is being threatened...

Oh no! I have been playing cricket for nearly two decades. I know that one also needs to compete mentally to survive in the game. It's good that no major tournament is coming up in the next few months. It was natural that the team management asked for a replacement. But I am quite optimistic about staging a comeback into the national side.