FACES OF THE UAE
One of the most passionate supporters of cricket in the UAE, Shyam Bhatia has set up a couple of initiatives to help underprivileged children, too, to enjoy the game, says Esha Nag
Shyam Bhatia says cricket must be a way of life – and in an ode to the sport has set up initiatives to help underprivileged children enjoy playing it too.
The early eighties were an interesting time for cricket in the UAE. International cricket had finally arrived in the country with much fanfare, with the Sharjah Cricket Stadium being the chosen ground for some of the epic clashes between arch sporting rivals India and Pakistan. The sport was – and is – a huge draw for people in the UAE, as well as from outside it, who came in hordes to watch the players create magic on field.
‘Ah those were the days,’ remembers Shyam Bhatia, founder of Alam Steel, and one of the sport’s biggest supporters in the country, sitting in his sprawling bungalow in the quiet upscale neighbourhood of Al Badaa in Dubai. ‘The most memorable match during those days was between India and Pakistan, the one where Imran Khan took 6 wickets for 14 runs and India was all down at 123. And then India bowled so well that they got Pakistan all out for 87 runs. Sunil Gavaskar took four catches in slips,’ the septuagenarian says. ‘The atmosphere was electrifying.’
Bhatia’s passion for cricket goes back to his school years in India. ‘Back in India when I used to play the game, I knew some of the players and had kept in touch. So in 1981 when the India-Pakistan series started, I invited the Indian cricket team, official umpires and media and much of Dubai’s business community to my home for lunches and dinners. There were legends such as Clive Lloyd, Ian Chappell, Michael Holding, as well as journalists like Kishore Bhimani and Khaled Ansari coming home. The cricketers were happy getting to enjoy local hospitality and home-cooked food, and for the rest of us it was a big social day. That’s how I became close with most of them, and every time they came they left some sort of memorabilia for me.’
Few people in the UAE are more passionate about the game than Shyam. Cricket chronicler and aficionado, he has published Portraits of the Game, a coffee-table book where cricketers speak about their best
moments in the game. Part of his home houses the cricket museum, a labour of his love for the game, and is packed with a dream collection of cricket bats autographed by legends such as Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, Mahela Jayawardene and Dale Steyn. He even has one that is signed by the Australian master Don Bradman himself.
There is art, history, precious collectibles, books and walls painted with statistics of test-playing nations.
The museum was inaugurated in 2010 by the then CEO of the International Cricket Council, Haroon Lorgat and has since then been visited by cricket legends all over the world as well as die-hard fans of the game. South African captain Graeme Smith, who visited Bhatia’s home and museum in 2013, was so impressed by his collection that he left his 100th test match boots for him.
Despite establishing one of the leading steel companies in the region, Shyam is not so much a man of steel, than he is a man of cricket. ‘Cricket is everything to me. It is not my only passion, it is my way of life,’ he says.
Like many Indians trying to carve a life in Dubai, Shyam arrived in the emirate in 1965 on a ship. ‘I started my career in the insurance sector. But besides work, I was keen to pursue cricket since I played regularly back home in India. However, with
no proper cricket ground in the emirate, there was little we could do. So we started practicing on the sand opposite the old airport and Old Baladiya Street and then started slowly frequenting the India Sports Club in Dubai with friends. We also played a lot of cricket in Sharjah during these days, especially on Fridays on a cement cricket pitch. The bonus was getting to see a film that would be screened in an open-air theatre after the game.’
C ricket, Shyam says, has given him more than he could have asked for. ‘My association with the game in the sixties and seventies made me very popular in Dubai’s social scene. Cricket played a huge role in connecting me to the right people that hugely contributed to the success of my steel business.’ After playing for a few years on sand tracks and cement pitches, he got a steel mat shipped to Dubai from India. ‘During those days I played with UAE nationals such as Abbas Kazim, Abdulrehman Falaknaz, Mohammed Reza Abbas who had picked up the game while studying either in India or Pakistan.’ As Dubai grew as a regional commercial hub, so did Shyam’s steel business and even in corporate life he applied the principles of the game. ‘Cricket teaches you discipline, team work and fairness. And the game has given me so much in life that I have tried to improve it wherever possible.’
It was this philosophy that led Shyam, along with Hero Jashanmal, Falaknaz and Mohammed Reda Abbas to form the Dubai Cricket Council in 1969. ‘Each of us contributed money and started the council to promote cricket at the local level.’ Today Shyam is hugely appreciated for his two initiatives in the UAE: the Cricket for Care Foundation that he started in 2007 to provide training and cricket kits to underprivileged children world over, and the Shyam Bhatia Annual Cricket Awards for local teams in the UAE. While the Cricket for Care foundation works with children and young adults (and also includes many blue-collared workers in Dubai’s worker accommodations), teaching them discipline, teamwork and leadership through sport, the annual cricket awards honours the best cricket players in local league matches in Dubai.
Shyam says, ‘I wanted to give back to society and wanted to do it through cricket as I owe all my success to this sport. This is not a rich man’s legacy. I started with donating $10,000 to the Dubai Cricket Council to support cricket coaching at the local level. But then with time, I stepped outside the UAE to reach out to kids in schools in far flung areas of India, Afghanistan, South Africa, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. I reach out to cash-strapped government schools that need these kits and training for their students. In South Africa, for example, I work with the South African Cricket Board to reach the black townships. I do my own research. When you want to do something, you have to do it from your heart.’
For the annual awards function in the UAE, he makes sure that the official awards for the young players are handed over by former legends such as Imran Khan, Ian Chappell, Viv Richards and Kapil Dev. ‘The idea is to provide motivation to these young players. Today there is not much happening in the UAE to boost local cricket. The rapid urbanisation has taken over the grounds. Unless we make cricket a way of life, it’s difficult to nurture talent here. But till then I will try and do whatever I can to keep the spirit of the sport alive. I don’t think I will ever retire from my business, from the game or from my museum.’
‘Cricket teaches you discipline, team work and fairness. The game has given me so much. I have tried to improve it in my own way.’