Teenage sensation back for UAE
Eight years after facing malinga as a 15-year-old, rai returns to the squad
Dubai: Former schoolboy sensation Ramveer Rai is back in the UAE team for the four-day International Cricket Council Intercontinental Cup series against Afghanistan next month.
As a 15-year-old Rai opened the innings for the UAE in the 2004 Asia Cup against Sri Lanka in Dambulla and faced up to the pace of Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Zoysa to top score with 39.
The UAE were bowled out for 123 runs chasing Sri Lanka's 239, but young Rai earned the respect of Sri Lankan stars like Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Muttiah Muralitharan.
Rai, who was a student at the Indian High School and captained the team to many victories, left for India to further his studies soon after the Asia Cup.
Alongside stars
He joined Sree Mahavir Jain College in Bengaluru and played alongside top Indian players like Robin Utthappa and Manish Pandey while earning a degree in commerce.
Rai is now 23 and has returned to the UAE to take up a job as digital executive with Clique Media, playing cricket for Interface team.
"It is great to be back in the UAE and I was happy to be among the runs in Ramadan and Nissan Gulf Cup matches. I'm really delighted to get back into the UAE team," Rai told Gulf News.
Khurram Khan will lead the UAE in both the one-day and four-day matches at the Intercontinental Cup to be held at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium from October 5.
The four day matches will be held from October 5 to 8 and the one-day matches will be held on October 10 and 11.
Sri Lankan Test star Graeme Labrooy will be the match referee for the matches.
Teams
Four day match team: Khurram Khan (capt), Arshad Ali, Swapnil Patil, Amjad Ali, Bakthiyar Palekar, Vikrant Shetty, Amjad Javed, Fayyaz Ahmad, Shadeep Silva, Ahmad Raza, Shoaib Sarwar, Ramveer Rai, Abdul Rahman, Asad Allah Shareef, Reserves: Irfan Ahmad, Rohan Mustafa, Mohammad Naveed and Sathya Narayanan.
One-day team: Khurram Khan (capt) Amjad Javed, Arshad Ali, Fiaz Asif, Shoaib Sarwar, Bakthiyar Palekar, Shadeep Silva, Vikrant Shetty, Asad Allah Shareef, Shaimon Anwar, Fayyaz Ahmad, Rohan Mustafa, Ahmad Raza, Amjad Ali. Reserves: Abdul Rahman, Ramveer Rai, Mohammad Naveed, Mohammad Azam.
