Akeal Hosein grew up dodging gunfire in the Caribbean. His dream was to play like Jadeja. Then he replaced him at CSK.
One afternoon in Laventille, Akeal Hosein was walking outside with friends when a red light appeared on one of their shirts. They spent minutes trying to brush it off. Then they understood what it was. They ran. Laventille is a neighbourhood in Port of Spain, Trinidad, divided by a single road. On one side, the Muslim area. On the other, Rasta City — territory controlled by a gang called Six. For years the road between them was a war zone. The buildings still carry it: walls riddled with bullet holes, windows blown out and never repaired, houses burned and abandoned. At its worst, by local count, five or six bodies dropped in a day. “Gangs would war like 100 feet apart,” Hosein told ESPN. “That’s the separation of different turfs. You’re here, I’m right down there and we’re having a beef. You could be caught up in a stray at any point of time.” He grew up inside all of this. It was just there, he said. Everything right around you. Once, he pulled out …
