adminPERTH. — Two worlds collide today when mighty India tackle the United Arab Emirates’ team of shipping clerks and airline staff, with at least two of the Gulf amateurs relishing the Cricket World Cup showdown at the WACA.
All-rounder Krishna Chandran and wicket-keeper Swapnil Patil were both born in India, but frustrated by the pedestrian pace of their playing careers in the country’s over-crowded talent market, they decamped to the UAE where they could pursue both jobs and cricket.
Chandran hails from Kerala and once featured for a Bangalore college club alongside Stuart Binny, who is a member of the India squad at the World Cup.
“It’s going to be a big moment for people back home,” 30-year-old Chandran, who moved to the Gulf in 2010, told wisdenindia.com.
“For people who saw me playing in my shorts, with a tennis ball, on the streets of my home village of Kollengode, it’s going to be a big thing to watch me on TV, playing against India, in a World Cup match, at a ground like the WACA.”
Chandran, who has become something of a curiosity at the World Cup due to his surname of Karate which adorns some of his playing gear, made a solid 34 runs in the opening loss to Zimbabwe before being dismissed for nought in the heart-breaking two-wicket defeat by Ireland. — AFP.
Online Reporter