Technical perfection is Maqsood's forte

Syed Maqsood has been pocketing some of the most prestigious awards in domestic cricket with ease.

Being one among the most technically perfect batsmen in the UAE, his immaculate timing and spectacular drives are a treat to watch. This season he bagged the CSL First Point Gold Cup Sharjah Ramadan floodlit cricket 'Man of the series' and the Mobil Cup 'Man of the tournament' awards.

In 1999 he bagged the Dubai Cricket Council's junior cricketer of the year award and last year he was picked as the best batsman.

Awards and honours have not been something new to Maqsood. All along his cricket career that began from Tamil Nadu, fame has followed him. Unfortunately, his exploits on the field were not backed by luck off the field.

Maqsood is among the many talented batsmen in India whose careers were destroyed by petty politics. With six hundreds in a trot at junior level cricket, he clinched a place in the Tamil Nadu Ranji Trophy team, but was denied a chance to exhibit his talent.

"I came up the ladder scoring at every level from the Under-19 stage. I represented the Indian South Zone Under-19 team, then went on to captain Tamil Nadu Under-21 team, led the Madras University and also captained South Zone Universities.

"I scored nearly 15 centuries in junior level cricket. For the Tamil Nadu Under-23 side, I scored 156 against Karnataka and 161 against Kerala to finally get into the Ranji Trophy team, but was never given a chance to play in the final eleven," said Maqsood.

Despite the huge scores in domestic as well as junior level cricket, he remained in the state team from 1994 to 1998. On several occasions he was dropped from the team without having played a match. Then whenever he scored heavily in domestic cricket, he was picked again into the squad, only to be dropped again without being given a chance.

"By the age of 23 my dreams of playing for India too faded. I knew that by 23 I should have played atleast three years of international cricket, if I had to make a career out of cricket," Maqsood remarked.

Despite the setbacks, he scored heavily in the Tamil Nadu league for HCL, with whom he worked before reaching Dubai. He also played for India Pistons and India Cements along with Test star Rahul Dravid.

"I have played along with Test stars like V.V.S. Laxman in the South Zone Under-19. Sriram and Hemang Badani were my colleagues in junior level matches. W.V. Raman was my state captain in 1994 and when I left in 1998, Robin Singh was the skipper," said Maqsood, who reached Dubai in 1998 November.

"I began playing for Consolidated Shipping Services from January 1999 and I am grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to continue with the game," he said.

Though Maqsood opened the batting for Tamil Nadu, for CSS, he has been batting down the order.

Maqsood also toured abroad with the CSS and in their first tour of Netherlands he hit two hundreds and a fifty. Todate he has scored over ten hundreds for CSS.

At 26, Maqsood does not aim for any personal milestones. "I am enjoying my cricket and want to score consistently for my company," said Maqsood, who displayed his tremendous appetite for runs with a splendid unbeaten 136 against DCC Starlets at the DCC grounds yesterday.