Hamid Hassan's promise kept as he embarks on last lap

"Let's see... next two years play T20 cricket and then maybe finish it off." That's Hamid Hassan finishing off a 20-minute chat about his life and cricket on a rainy Southampton evening. Afghanistan's training session has been interrupted by rain and the players are milling around unsure of what to do next. Hamid stops for the interview, reluctantly at first, but makes a quick turnaround as the conversation goes on. So much so, he's on the verge of enacting how he got injured or describing how he takes selfies just the way his idol Andrew Flintoff does.

But before Flintoff, a young Hamid was smitten by another fast bowler. His eyes light up when he reminisces about Shoaib Akhtar. "Wow he's a fast bowler," is what Hamid remembers thinking. His first attempts at mimicking Akhtar's action in backyard cricket though were a damp squib.

"My weight was too much - 122 kg. I would watch him, bowl three times from same [distance] as his run-up, and fifth ball I was like [down on the haunches]," he laughs.

His brother, Dr. Rashid, though, saw potential and insisted that his younger sibling's bowling was 'too quick'. And so Hamid started his journey to be a fast bowler, much to his father's anguish. But crucially, with plenty of support from his mother.

"I get emotional when I am reminded about my mom," Hamid tails off. When his father was unsure about his son's career choice and when his mom had to intervene, Hamid had made himself, and her, a promise. "Don't worry mom, I won't let you guys down, and one day you will be proud." is what he told her then. "Khuli aankhon se sapna dekhna," he says trying to explain what he was doing back then. "I'd dream Hamid is in London, Australia, US, whatever. It was fantastic."

That dream came to fruition when he impressed Mike Gatting in a match against MCC in Mumbai. "Hit four batsmen on the toes, two of them were injured. Got two-three wickets, bowled only 5-6 overs but gave away only 6-7 runs. I bowled too quick," is his quick and gleeful summary of that game.

Hamid admits to being oblivious to the who's who of cricket while still playing then. "The Afghanistan way," was his mentality then. It's how he describes the blissful ignorance of not being overawed by the big names in cricket. And Hamid likes to think that he embodies that sentiment. "One day I bowled 22 overs non-stop, since morning till the Tea break. Dharmasena was the umpire. It was a final against Scotland, and he asks 'Are you human or machine?'. I say - 'No sir, I'm enjoying my bowling'. So when I'm on then I'm on. Like a diesel car keeps going."

That blissful ignorance which helped him on-field though was not helping his social skills. "Who are you talking to? To me?" he asked Robin Marlar, the then MCC president who tempted him with an offer to play on faster and greener pitches. He didn't trust Marlar's offer until the latter was called up for a speech later at a party. Those wide-eyed dreams were becoming a reality for Hamid, quicker than he ever thought they'd be. Joining him on this ride was Mohammad Nabi, who was picked alongside.

Twelve years later, Hamid admits that it is still a little difficult to comprehend. "Sometimes we [Nabi] do talk, sometimes we do think back where we were and where we are. It's almost like an unbelievable journey. Because most countries are playing, but no country made it up as quickly as Afghanistan did."

A few years ago, these discussions would have been the furthest thoughts for Hamid. A scary crash into the sightscreen threatened to bring a premature end to his career. He still describes it vividly including the height of the fence that he jumped over while trying to stop a shot from Alastair Cook.

"When I opened my eyes I was face down, I was not moving my hand. This leg [left] even a single centimetre was not moving. Same (with the) right one. My head was like this and I start crying 'my legs, my legs'. Like a small baby, a kid. After few minutes the game was stopped, they came with a stretcher and they rolled me like this, like you're rolling something in a paper," he recalls. "They took me to a hospital that was forty minutes from the ground and full forty minutes I was crying because the pain was unstoppable."

Sourav Ganguly had suggested that he put his name up for the IPL following a hat-trick and that was another of Hamid's pipe dreams which were cut short. "It changed my life, changed my career."

But Afghanistan's qualification for the World Cup gave Hamid a new inspiration to get out of bed. He was desperate to prove naysayers wrong. "That Hamid is not finished, he still can bowl. When I bowled 145 against Australia, I was also surprised. Is that me or somebody else?"

His mind, he says, never accepted any other possibility. "I'm a person, not saying like Alexander or whatever. But my mind was not accepting it. Sitting at home and saying bye bye to cricket."

The end hasn't been the way he had envisioned. Afghanistan are going through troubled times on the field and off it. They are yet to win a game in the World Cup and Hamid has just one wicket against his name. But as it comes to a close, and as he looks back at a fascinating journey, you can safely say that the promise he'd once made has been kept.