Cricket more valuable than money as UAE prepare to take on India’s millionaires

India's millionaires take on UAE's part-timers but financial status will mean little when the teams take to the field, writes Paul Radley.

The UAE players take part in a final training session before they face India in the Cricket World Cup. Six players have taken unpaid leave to play in the tournament. Greg Wood / AFP

PERTH // The last time the UAE played at cricket’s World Cup, in 1996, the main source of intrigue for the wider world related to Sultan Zarawani, the team’s captain.

The Emirati businessman, who did so much to cement the sport in the UAE, was the leg spinner who opted to bat against the world’s fastest bowler without a helmet.

He was also said to be the richest player in the tournament, with a fleet of high-performance sports cars in his garage in ­Dubai.

In cricket’s distant past, such was often the case when amateurs played against the ­professionals.

Gentlemen versus players fixtures, as they were called, often pitted well-to-do captains of industry against the hired hands, the players who were paid a standard wage to bowl at them the rest of the time.

How the world moves on, though, because when the UAE’s amateur national team meet India at the Waca Ground in Perth today, their opposition will consist of some of the best-paid players in the world of sport.

Take Indian wicketkeeper and captain MS Dhoni for example. He has been on the Forbes list of the 100 richest global sportsmen for the past three years.

According to the magazines list for 2014, he earned more than Wayne Rooney, Usain Bolt and Dwyane Wade in the preceding 12 months.

Where Zarawani’s passion was cars, Dhoni could match it with his stock of motorbikes.

By contrast, Dhoni’s wicketkeeping opposite number, Swapnil Patil, has a day job as a receptionist with a construction and property management company in Dubai.

He first left his native Mumbai because cricket was not paying well enough and the job in the UAE afforded him a living wage, job security and the chance to play cricket.

It may be less glamorous than Dhoni’s CV, but they will be sharing the same strip of turf today.

“My cousin worked with Yogi Group and the owner of the company called my father to tell him he was interested in bringing me there,” Patil said of leaving India in 2006.

“He made an offer and told my dad I could come and join if I was interested. I took him up on the chance.

“I didn’t have much of a thought process about playing for the national team when I arrived. I wanted to play, I had a job and now I have been playing cricket for five years for the national team. It has been so good for me.”

Mohammed Tauqir, the Emirati who is the national team captain, grew up watching the stars of India and Pakistan playing matches at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. It is what first fostered his love for the sport.

He and his colleagues are well aware of India’s status in cricket. Many went to watch them when the glamour of the Indian Premier League landed in the UAE for a month last year. Tauqir said the UAE side will be playing the ball, not the CVs of the opposition.

“We know they are big stars, but we are going to treat it as another game and not be intimidated by their names or their reputations,” Tauqir said.

“Mentally, everyone is calm and we are not emotional about the situations we find ourselves in.”

To emphasise the contrast between the multimillionaire Indians and their opponents, the UAE have six players who are taking unpaid leave from work to play at this World Cup.

As the players are away from their work places for nearly two months, their employers either cannot, or will not, pay them during their extended leave.

As such, the Emirates Cricket Board are footing the bill.

Other players are luckier. Manjula Guruge is having his pay continued by New Medical Centre while he is away. United Bank Limited, who employ Amjad Ali, Saqlain Haider and Mohammed Naveed, think the positive image engendered by their employees playing at such a high-profile competition offsets the time they miss.

The same goes for Emirates Airline, who employ Khurram Khan, Amjad Javed and Krishna Chandran.

They are all being paid by their company for the duration of the tournament, which includes the pay rise Javed received after a recent promotion.

Not that any of the players will be considering their employment status when they line up against Virat Kohli, et al.

“Once we are here, we try to forget what we used to do,” Khurram said. “We are just enjoying our time here and we try to be as professional as we can.

“Obviously, we have jobs back at home, but once we reach here we forget about what’s behind the scenes.”

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