Dubai Cricket Council is a neglected Cinderella

For the past 14 years, the Dubai Cricket Council’s (DCC) Shyam Bhatia awards have remained the UAE’s only marker for excellence in cricket. By inviting legends of the game every year to give away the awards, Bhatia has inspired players to aim for the coveted prize of UAE’s cricketer of the year, best batsman, bowler and all-rounder awards.

Most players strive hard not just for the cash that the award entails, but for the honour of being the best and receiving their award from one of the greats of the game.

This season, the UAE’s domestic cricketers who toiled hard for the top prizes were deprived of these prestigious awards apparently due to the lackadaisical attitude of all the other councils in the UAE in providing sufficient statistical data on player performances from their tournaments to the DCC.

It’s a shame that all councils did not join hands in naming the UAE’s best players and merely recommended the best players from their own council, belittling the glitter of this annual award. Though the award function is held under the auspices of the DCC, all councils should have taken the responsibility for identifying the best. It could have been players from their own council who may have won the awards.

Players can never complain if councils are insensitive to their feelings. It would be ideal if the Emirates Cricket Board stepped forward and ensured that all councils cooperated to help cricketers achieve their dream of being honoured as the best.

It’s also time the DCC was helped out of its present predicament. It was once the most active cricket council, hosting many tournaments. But for the last ten years it has been struggling without a ground. One fails to understand how a council, in whose region the International Cricket Council is located, can be in such dire straits.

Today, if the council is alive and kicking, it is mainly because of a few cricketers like Mohammad Lokhandwala, Shiva Pagarani, Gopal Jasapara, Shoeb Muljiani and Farrukh Siddiqui, who constantly assist the council thanks to their passion for the game.

This council, which stood tall among the others, does not even have an office space, and their contact number is the mobile number of their secretary. At one time, this council had a fully-fledged academy. Today, despite being the sole authority of the game in this region, the council has to seek permission from privately-owned grounds and pay rental charges to stage their tournaments. Clubs here will surely want to know to why the DCC is a neglected Cinderella.