Dubai: Mohammad Redha Abbas holds many top posts in UAE cricket. He learned the basics of the game while studying in Mumbai.
He is Executive Board member of the Emirates Cricket Board, vice-chairman of the Dubai Cricket Council and selector of the UAE cricket team.
Abbas, who has been associated with the game from the early sixties, talked at length about the progress of the game and what needs to be done to establish UAE as a strong cricketing nation.
Gulf News: You have seen the growth of cricket in UAE from the start. How did it take its roots?
Mohammad Redha Abbas: Cricket began in the mid-'60s with Indian communities playing with a lot of UAE nationals. The Indians who played were essentially businessmen and bankers. There were no proper cricket grounds and our pitches used to be the areas where cars had gone over the sand and had become like a cemented area. Proper ground was available only in the Royal Air Force Sharjah.
Despite being a UAE national how did you get interested in cricket?
I studied in India and played club and schools cricket in Mumbai during the late '50s and early '60s. I also represented Maharashtra State Under-19 volleyball team and travelled to Kerala, but their state's education minister, Mohammad Koya, disqualified me saying I am an Arab. I can speak fluent Hindi, Marathi, and Urdu and understand Gujarati. I carried my love for cricket and volleyball to UAE and played for Al Nasr volleyball team.
How did you get to continue playing cricket on returning from India?
We had a cricket team made up only of UAE nationals. The team comprised Kazim, Farooq and Abdul Razzaq brothers. We used to play against Royal Air Force, Galadaris, National Bank of Dubai. By 1972-73, Bukhatir XI came into existence. Our biggest match was against Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) led by Wasim Bari and had Majid Khan, Imran Khan, Zaheer Abbas and Mudassar Nazar and it was held at a ground near Al Khan in Sharjah. The UAE team was led by UAE national Abbas Kazim. He was a fine opening batsman who played schools cricket in Mumbai with Sunil Gavaskar as his junior.
Why is it that the interest for cricket among the nationals faded away slowly?
The nationals who loved cricket studied in India and Pakistan. A national who has studied here will not prefer cricket. For example, my sons seeing me go for cricket took some interest, but they preferred to watch football and went on to play tennis. My son Badar Abbas became UAE No 2 ranked tennis player. Most nationals prefer to play sports where the facilities are in front of them. In Dubai, our cricket grounds were taken away. For the last five years if anyone wanted to play cricket in Dubai there were not even grounds.
Do you think that if facilities were available, nationals would have taken up cricket?
Yes, they need to see facilities in front of their eyes and not something hidden. They see football grounds all over and take interest. The Dubai and Abu Dhabi television sports channels do not even show cricket. All that they see is volleyball, football, swimming, acrobatics and horse racing. Only if they see cricket they will even want to attempt it.
Now that we have the best of cricket facilities in UAE with world class cricket academies, do you think it can bring about a transition and attract nationals?
Let me be frank, you cannot catch a national and ask him to play cricket. If you ask him to also pay for playing the game, he is not going to do it. They play sports in Al Wasl free of charge and even coaches train them for free. So if you tell a national to pay Dh250 an hour he won't. So open the cricket facilities free till they get interested and it should be from the junior level.
There are expatriates from England, South Africa, and Australia living here but why are they not playing in domestic cricket?
Years back, we had few England cricketers. People from these countries do not stay here for long periods unlike Indians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans. What surprises me is the absence of cricketers from Bangladesh. The doors of cricket are open for all nationalities and the more the better for a stronger UAE team in future.
Do you think that since one can make lots of money from cricket can it attract more players to the game?
There is not much money in UAE cricket. If we tour and win, we pay around Dh5,000 per player. If we pay them more, many more may take interest. For this, companies must come forward to sponsor cricketers. The International Cricket Council rule does not say you have to be a UAE national to represent the country. One has to be a resident of UAE for over seven years to be eligible. Even two players with four years of residence can play.
As a selector what are the difficulties you face in picking a good team?
Most of the players are employed. For example, if our matches are in December, players who are bankers may not get leave due to end of the year work. So if we have two good off spinners who are bankers then we have to look for a newcomer. Some good players in the squad are also ageing and may play only for two more years and so we need strong bench strength.
