Cricket hits fever pitch during Ramadan in UAE

Dubai: Ramadan is a time of reflection, prayer, fasting, and plenty of cricket.

With 10 tournaments reportedly taking place across the UAE at present, cricket certainly seems to flourish, possibly even more than other sports, during the holy month, leaving players handling their busiest schedule of the year.

Not that they are complaining.

To many of the Muslim players, a day that begins before dawn and includes a near 15-hour fast till sunset, combined with the daily grind at the office, would just not be complete without a good competitive game of cricket at the end.

"Fasting the whole day, praying five times a day, going to work, you need some way to relax at the end and I think it's the best game to do that," said UAE player Amjad Javed as his Fly Emirates side battled it out against Seven Seas Strikers in the Danube Ramadan Twenty20 Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Qader Nawaz, who was filling in for regular Seven Seas Strikers captain Freddy Sidhwa echoed Javed's sentiments.

"In Ramadan, we do enjoy [ourselves] a lot as there are a lot of tournaments," he said. "We play about five to six tournaments in the month which is not the case otherwise.

"We are playing in Abu Dhabi, in Dubai, wherever there is a tournament, we are always there."

The Danube event is itself one of three Ramadan events going on at the 50 million square foot Dubai Sports City complex. Not far away from the brightly lit international venue, the ICC Global Cricket Academy is abuzz with activity playing host to a 25-over-a-side outdoor tournament in addition to an indoor event for those seeking respite from the merciless heat.

Mazhar Khan, a veteran Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) administrator said it was not just the popularity but also the quality of cricket during Ramadan that had risen tremendously over the years. "There was a time when it used to be just three tournaments taking place across the whole of the UAE, now I can count about 10. It is amazing," said Khan, adding: "The quality is also such that these tournaments always throw up two to three good players whom [the ECB] wouldn't have seen before."

Attempting to explain cricket's special bond with the holy month, Khan said: "I suppose people work for six hours a day, plus the atmosphere is totally different. The festive feeling of the month gets to the players. People are awake till late in the night getting ready for the pre-dawn meal. Sometimes by the time the players reach home, there is hardly any time to sleep."

That is hardly an exaggeration. By the time Seven Seas Strikers had finished sealing a tense affair against Fly Emirates, it was already quarter to midnight with the game between Farooq Cricket Club and Phoenix Medicines still to follow. Do bear in mind a Twenty20 game lasts a good three and a half hours on an average.

Javed said his two young children do not let him off that easily when he reaches home late on match days. "They get angry and tell me ‘Papa, we rarely see you'," said the 30-year-old all-rounder, adding that players see more of their teammates than their loved ones during Ramadan. Even starting times for most matches mean players at times have little choice but to end the fast at the venue instead of the traditional family get-together at home.

But Javed believes Ramadan teaches the cricketers a vital lesson. "As I see it, all these things make you more disciplined. It teaches you how to balance it all - fasting, work, cricket and family."

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