Chundangapoyil Puthiyapurayil Rizwan resides a dream. The 34-year-old from Thalassery is main the UAE within the T20 Asia Cup qualifiers in Oman and have become the primary Kerala-born cricketer to captain a rustic in worldwide tournaments.
“It is a big honour to steer the UAE and a dream come true, one thing I yearned for after I began enjoying cricket. I’m grateful to educate Robin Singh and the Emirates Cricket Board for reposing religion in me. The captaincy comes with lots of duties. I’ll attempt to do properly to stay as much as the massive expectations,’’ he instructed The Hindu.
With his profession going nowhere and his dream of representing Kerala in Ranji Trophy nearly over, C.P. Rizwan took an essential determination in 2014 emigrate to the UAE. Former Kerala Ranji Trophy participant C.T.Ok. Mashood supplied him a chance to play membership cricket in Dubai, and Rizwan grabbed it with each fingers.
An engineering graduate, Rizwan even sacrificed a safe Central authorities job to pursue his objective, and after toiling laborious within the UAE home circuit for 4 years, he lastly certified to play for the nation in ICC tournaments.
“I used to be tempted to return after I landed the job within the postal division however determined to remain again as I assumed I had a greater probability of representing the UAE in worldwide cricket. I do not need any regrets,’’ mentioned Rizwan, who had represented Kerala in junior cricket.
He made his debut for the UAE in opposition to Nepal in 2019, however the breakthrough efficiency got here in 2021 when he cracked a century in opposition to Ireland, a Test-playing nation, in a one-day worldwide match within the UAE. Rizwan’s century enabled the UAE to gun down an enormous complete, and within the course of, he turned the primary Kerala-born cricketer to attain a century in worldwide cricket.
“The century opened a world of alternatives for me. Suddenly, I turned an in a single day movie star and was invited to lots of features right here (the UAE) and at residence in Thalassery. But I used to be not carried away as I practised laborious and made each alternative rely,’’ mentioned Rizwan, who will get an opportunity to play in opposition to India if the UAE wins the qualifiers.
Source: www.thehindu.com