Perth, Australia: The heroics of Shaiman Anwar, who on Wednesday became the first UAE batsman to hit a century in the ICC Cricket World Cup, have earned him and his family a free holiday from his local team owner and employer Neeraj Ramamoorthy.
Anwar cracked 106 off just 83 balls with ten fours and a six as the UAE gave Ireland a major scare before going down by two wickets in their Pool B match in Brisbane.
Shaiman plays for Wings SRT Cricket Club and is employed as a store in-charge by Trotter Group, the company that owns the team.
After watching the match, Ramamoorthy told Gulf News how he had granted leave for Shaiman to play in the World Cup and his reward when he gets back.
“Shaiman has made us all proud. Immediately on arrival he and his family will be gifted a free holiday as a token of our appreciation. His performance is the result of his dedication and hard work,” he said.
“He regularly works night shifts at our petroleum storage terminal in Al Quoz so that he can train early evenings with the UAE team.”
Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi also plays for Wings and works for Trotters. While playing in the Kerala Premier League, Shaiman plays alongside four Afghanistan players — Nabi, Dawlat Zadran, Samiullah Shenwari and Gulbadin Naib — for Trotters Wayanad Highlanders.
“I make sure to give leave for my players whenever they need to report for their respective cricket boards,” said a sporting Ramamoorthy.
Shaiman has now earned a place among the top four run-getters in the 2015 World Cup so far — behind only Chris Gayle, Shikhar Dhawan and Marlon Samuels — with 173 runs from two innings at an average of 86.50.
UAE skipper Mohammad Tauqir hailed Shaiman’s innings, saying: “Shaiman played a superb knock, to take us from 130 for six to 279, all credit goes to him. It was a brilliant innings.”
Opener Amjad Ali, who gave the UAE a good start with his 45, added: “The lessons that [batting coach] Mudassar Nazar taught and the shots he told me to play helped me a lot. He has told me to believe in myself and show my skills to the world. This is what I did exactly today.”
When Gulf News asked how disappointing the result was, Amjad said: “I have a message to our supporters in the UAE — we will fight till we win and we are still confident of pulling off two wins. You can expect better cricket from us in the coming weeks.”
