A mentor’s predicament
It is difficult to keep the UAE-based businessman Anis Sajan away from cricket, especially if it is indoor variant of the game. So, when he got a call from India to mentor the Indian Indoor team for the World Cup in Dubai, he promptly agreed, although he has played and nursed indoor cricket in Dubai.
With over a two-decade association with indoor cricket in the UAE, it was obvious that Anis would get some role to play when the 10th edition of the World Cup is played in Dubai. “I have played my cricket (including indoor) here in (the) UAE but, as they say, it is a destiny,” Anis told the Khaleej Times, without any bitterness, when asked why he chose India over the UAE.
“It is just a coincidence that India approached me before (the) UAE,” he adds.
For Anis, his first brush with indoor cricket was an unforgettable experience. It was in 1997, a friend of Anis, Tariq, invited him to play cricket at night. “At first, I wondered, cricket at night?!”
He, however, understood the concept once he stepped inside the Insportz Club in Al Quoz Industrial Area. “I still fondly remember that first day, as I broke my glasses. It (Indoor) gave me a kind of cricket that was fast (there was no T20 in those days). For me, this was fast cricket, which we could play after working hours,” reveals the owner of Danube Group. Once hooked, Anis went on to create his own team. “I then formed a team of our Danube Group and, as they say, the rest is history.”
Jogging his memory and making a quick mental calculation, Anis recollects, “I must have easily played about 800-900 indoor cricket matches in the last 20 years.”
“I used to wait for the clock to strike 9 p.m to come and enjoy my indoor games here (Insportz),” he reminisces with a grin.
Talking about his new role as a mentor of the Indian team, he says: “When I was appointed mentor of the team, I had no clue who were the boys because the Indian Indoor Cricket Federation selected the team.”
However, Anis knew that it was important for him to meet the boys and understand their psyche. “Mentor is the one who passes on his experience. It was important to know the boys and that’s why I went on a 10-day trip to India recently,” he informs. Now, the affable cricket aficionado is well aware of the strong and weak point of every member of the Indian team.
On the other hand, now Anis is in a peculiar predicament.
“I have played and supported indoor cricket in the UAE for 20 years and closely know most of the team members. Now I have to mentor the Indian team, while the Sri Lankan team has players who represented my Danube Group team in indoor tournaments in the UAE,” he explained about his split loyalties in the Indoor World Cup to be held at the Insportz Club from September 16-23.
And Anis says it is hard to pick favourites. “Cricket is a very funny game, the Australian have won last nine editions, the UAE boys are at home and the Indians are the youngest team. So, time will decide who will emerge as the best in Dubai,” he says.
Anis, who used to spent about two million dirhams a season for sponsoring, running indoor and outdoor cricket teams in UAE, is not spending a single penny for the Indian team. “I was named mentor by them for my experience in this format and I am not expected to finance anything,” he clarified.
i have played and supported indoor cricket in the UAe for 20 years and closely know most of the team members Anis Sajan