Dubai: The Pepsi Indian Premier League turned out to be a nostalgic occasion for the UAE’s star middle order batsman Vikrant Shetty. Some of the IPL’s star players had played under his captaincy for Indian state side Karnataka in junior cricket and the IPL gave him a chance to meet up with his former teammates and recall their younger days when they had all battled hard to make a name for themselves.
The 1996-97 season saw Shetty captain the Karnataka under-13 team, which included Kolkata Knight Riders’ Robin Uthappa and Rajasthan Royals’ Stuart Binny. Both Uthappa and Binny went on to represent India. Shetty came to the UAE in 1999 and continued his schooling here.
The IPL’s strict security arrangements made it tough to catch up but the star players found time to meet their former captain.
“I captained Karnataka Under-13 team to victory with Uthappa and Stuart Binny in the squad. The year before, we all played together; Karnataka had put up a poor show in the Under-13 Sports Star trophy and so we were determined to win it and all of them contributed brilliantly under my captaincy. We beat Tamil Nadu in the final to emerge as the South Zone champions,” said Shetty who, along with Uthappa and Binny learned the basics of the game at the academy run by former Test star Brijesh Patel in Bangalore.
Patel too is in the UAE as head of cricket operations of the Bangalore team and Avinash Vaidya, who was one of the coaches at the academy, is the team manager.
“Two years after that win, I came to UAE and continued my studies here as I wasn’t sure whether cricket will give me a career. I scored heavily in schools cricket while studying for my 11th and 12 here. I felt so happy when Uthappa made his debut for India in 2006 and Binny played for India this year,” said Shetty, who too never gave up his dream of playing international cricket.
“I am so happy that, representing UAE, I too could play in the World Cup this year. I wanted to take Binny and Shetty out for a party but the strict instructions from the IPL authorities on players not to attend private parties prevented it,” said Shetty, who scored heavily for the UAE in the ACC Trophy recently in Nepal.
Shetty once had the rare honour of playing for the New Zealand team along with another UAE player Naeemuddin Aslam. The Twenty20 Cool & Cool Cup match between Pakistan and New Zealand in 2009 saw the pair being drafted into the New Zealand Twenty20 team for the two matches held in Dubai as the Kiwis were reduced to 12 players due to injury. Interestingly, then New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori, who included Shetty in the team, is also currently in the UAE as a coach of the Bangalore team.
