ILT20 auction: Grocery store assistant-turned-fast bowler Junaid Siddique lands $170,000 deal

Junaid Siddique said he felt numb while sitting on his own in his apartment in Sharjah, as he watched a bidding war unfold which finished with him landing a deal worth $170,000.

The 32-year-old fast-bowler was the biggest beneficiary of the opening round of the first DP World International League T20 auction.

Siddique had been due to fly to Oman on Tuesday with the UAE squad for this month’s T20 World Cup Qualifier. However, an administrative delay meant he was instead at home when the auction was taking place.

His family live in Multan, where he originates from, and all were simultaneously watching the broadcast stunned as his deal rose far beyond the reserve price of $10,000.

The bidding culminated with Sharjah Warriorz being given the right to match the $170,000 that the bid had risen to. They did so, meaning he will rejoin the side he has represented in the UAE’s T20 franchise league with distinction in the past.

“I was watching and I was confused,” Siddique said. “The rest of my family are back in Pakistan so I was watching on my own.

“When the price was going up and up and up, my hands and feet were too cold. In my life, I have never been so confused. My wife had also been watching [in Pakistan]. She is so happy, as are my friends and family.”

The salary for around five weeks’ work for ILT20’s Season 4, which starts in December, dwarfs the Dh8,000 ($2,200) monthly contract he has as a centrally contracted player for the UAE national team.

It is a life-changing sum for a player who basically gave up any aspirations to play the sport professionally when he left Pakistan to move to Dubai in 2014.

He was forced to move away from his homeland because of financial problems for his family. He relocated to the UAE with no guaranteed employment, but in the hope of picking up work and remit money home.

He took whatever jobs he could find, which included working in a grocery store packing bags, among others. In the spare time he had, he looked for matches of tape-ball cricket.

The friends he made through tape-ball saw he had a talent as a fast bowler, and helped find him a place in organised cricket. That included buying him bowling shoes, and lending him a kit.

“I didn’t come here with work on offer,” Siddique said. “When I arrived, I had to search for a job.

“All the friends I made when I first came here in 2014 are still my friends now. They know how it was when I tried to survive in my first five years.

“It was very difficult for me. I didn’t go back to Pakistan for four-and-a-half years because I couldn’t afford to.

“I struggled here for a long time. Sometimes you would eat, sometimes you wouldn’t eat. Sometimes you would have to eat food from the day before. It was very hard. But I worked very hard, and I always believe you have to stay patient.”

Once his new friends started him out on his journey in formal cricket, his rise was sharp. He debuted for the UAE national team in 2019, and has been a mainstay of the side since.

He has played for them at the T20 World Cup, and was one of the leading wicket-takers of the Asia Cup that was won by India in Dubai on Sunday.

JP Duminy, the Warriorz coach, said Siddique’s excellence in the Asia Cup was part of the reason they were so keen to retain him.

“We are excited to have Junaid back,” Duminy, the former South Africa batter, said.

“He has had an outstanding year, particularly for UAE, and he has certainly shown his class. He deserves the opportunity to be bought at such a high price.”

In the past, players have mostly been recruited by direct negotiation with the franchises. That was how Siddique had been part of the Warriorz for the first three seasons of the tournament.

“We were still talking yesterday and this morning as they wanted to keep me in Sharjah Warriorz,” Siddique said.

“It is like a family. I have played for them for three years. They know me very well and I know them very well.”

Ahead of the fourth season, the main source of intrigue had been the presence in the list of Ravichandran Ashwin, the superstar Indian spinner.

Ashwin had been entered at a reserve price of $120,000, which was $40,000 more than anyone else on sale. And yet, the opening round, he did not attract a bid.

Fakhar Zaman and Naseem Shah, who both went to Desert Vipers for their base rate of $80,000, were the biggest stars of the early purchases.

But the most significant moves were those involving UAE bowlers. Siddique’s new-ball partner for the UAE, Mohammed Rohid, also attracted a six-figure sum.

The left-arm seamer, who only debuted for the national team earlier this year having impressed previously in the ILT20, went for $140,000. Again, after a bidding war, his previous side, MI Emirates, matched the price, and so retained Rohid.

The deals are likely to cause much talk within the UAE squad when they do congregate ahead of their trip to Muscat, to try to earn a place at next year’s T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka and India.

Siddique said the first person who called was Muhammad Waseem, the UAE captain, who was spared the ordeal of auction day on account of the fact he had already been retained by MI Emirates. “He told me he was happy for me and said, ‘You deserve it’,” Siddique said.

Duminy said he looked forward to welcoming Siddique back into the fold as they bid to challenge for the title for the first time.

“It is not necessarily just about the price tag,” Duminy said. “It is critical to make sure we get high quality UAE players and he certainly falls into that category, particularly in the year that he has had.

“Also, we need to look at the conditions. We play five games in Sharjah, he suits the conditions in terms of executing the skills that we need to give ourselves the best chance to win.”