Kuwait’s amateurs create waves in Sharjah

Sharjah

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Twenty20 Cup, held at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium and Al Dhaid Cricket Village last week, saw an unfancied Kuwait team create waves. A bunch of blue-collared workers made their mark when they won the hearts of everyone, beating all their opponents except experienced Oman team, to finish runners-up.

The team comprised of players working as carpenters, plumbers and painters in the Gulf country — who after a hard day’s work still found time for cricket. The coach who transformed them into winners was Biju George, a Sports Authority of India (SAI) coach, known as the man who groomed India’s rising star Sanju Samson.

Speaking to Gulf News, Biju said: “Their performance in the ACC Trophy here was nothing but a reflection of their deep passion and hunger to play the game. I was assigned to coach them from December 27 to January 21 in Kuwait and was amazed to see their enthusiasm. These players were from Pakistan and work in Kuwait, most of them doing manual work as carpenters and plumbers. Some had small jobs with banks but they all used to assemble promptly after a hard day’s work at 7.30pm for my coaching and work hard in the nets till 11pm. All of them had to start work next day at 6am — still they were so enthusiastic to learn the skills.”

Kuwait carried their enthusiasm into the ACC Trophy and stunned opponents with their style of play. Some of them had not even played under floodlights but performed brilliantly. “Skipper Aamir Javed is an amazingly talented player. He is such a hardhitter that he can easily find a place in any Indian Premier League team. In almost all the matches, he hit over 40 runs to ensure victory,” said Biju.

In one of the matches, Kuwait chased Maldives total of 138 for 9 in just eight overs. It prompted former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly to tweet: “A team chases 139 in 8 overs. What the hell. Unbelievable Wow!!!.”

Speaking about the tweet, Biju said: “To have a great player like Ganguly recognising their performance was special for them. Sibtain Raza, an off spinner went on to produce a hat-trick. Most of the batsmen had such power backing their shots that sixes often sailed over the Sharjah Stadium.”

Biju, who also trains cricketers at National Cricket Academy on assignment from Sports Authority of India, enjoyed coaching such talents. “Anywhere in the world, I would enjoy grooming such players. Enthusiasm to learn is what matters the most,” said Biju, who was the India’s Under-19 World Cup team fielding coach and had recently coached NCA team to victory in the Karnataka Cricket Association All India tournament.

Kuwait and Oman had finished on equal points but Kuwait lost the crucial match by 11 runs. “What makes players perform well in cricket like these Kuwait players are the hand-eye coordination and attitude backed with discipline and dedication. Any player with such qualities will always excel in cricket,” said Biju.