Opportunity knocks for Ambati Rayudu and Sourabh Tiwary, pictured, ahead of this year's World Twenty20.
Opportunity knocks for Ambati Rayudu and Sourabh Tiwary, pictured, ahead of this year's World Twenty20.

Young Indians to the fore



The roar at the Brabourne Stadium as Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya emerged from the dressing room to open the batting in the Mumbai Indians' opening IPL game last Saturday could be heard halfway across Marine Drive. As it turned out, neither man could deliver more than a cameo, and it was left to two youngsters to torment Shane Warne and the Rajasthan Royals. Ambati Rayudu and Sourabh Tiwary made half-centuries to give the Indians a winning start in a high-scoring game.

On Wednesday night, the two were at it again, adding 71 in less than seven overs as the Indians crossed 200 for the second match in succession. Both scored at a similar pace and smacked six sixes between them, but were taught a gentle lesson in the art of batsmanship by Tendulkar, who scored at a far more rapid clip (63 off 32 balls) while playing hardly any risky strokes. Time after time, he spotted gaps in the field and used the bowlers' pace and deft wrists to work the ball through them.

A day earlier, Jacques Kallis had done something similar for the Royal Challengers, easing to 45 from 38 balls before clubbing 44 from the next 17 that he faced. While teammates like Manish Pandey and Virat Kohli were guilty of trying to hit the ball too hard, Kallis used his experience to pace the innings perfectly. Robin Uthappa provided the mid-innings oomph with 51 from 21, but it was Kallis's calm hand on the tiller as Bangalore made a mockery of an imposing 204-run pursuit.

For the young men in the IPL, there's no greater education than playing alongside these legends. With the India squad for the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean to be announced on March 26, opportunity knocks for the likes of Rayudu and Tiwary. They have been the main beneficiaries of the four-foreign-player rule, showcasing their skill while the likes of JP Duminy and Graham Napier sit on the bench.

Nearly seven years ago, Rayudu appeared ready to leave the chrysalis and grow wings. The great and good of Indian cricket, who had watched him at the National Cricket Academy, spoke in hushed tones of how the Hyderabad boy might be India's next teenage batting sensation. There had already been rave reviews after his exploits on an Under 19 tour of England and a debut Ranji season that included a double-century.

A few months short of his 18th birthday, he was painfully shy and untutored in the ways of clichéd media-speak. He spoke quietly of how England was the "best country to play cricket in" and of coaches at the NCA who had helped him understand his natural game without tampering with it. "I don't think of those things," he said solemnly when asked about the pressure on him to be the next Tendulkar. "I just want to bat as well as I can. I'm not going to worry about the rest."

Now, after repeated run-ins with certain administrators in Hyderabad, a couple of wasted years with the Hyderabad Heroes in the rebel Indian Cricket League and a tendency to be bowled by the inswinger, he has the chance to fulfil the promise that he had as a teenager. Tiwary, the left-handed Dhoni clone from Jharkhand whose unorthodox style evokes his hero just as much as Virender Sehwag's once did Tendulkar, also has his eyes on the big prize.

They have been the main beneficiaries of the four-foreign-player rule,and single-mindedness that has kept Tendulkar and Kallis at the top for so very long. Dileep Premachandran is the associate editor at Cricinfo and the Asian cricket correspondent of The Guardian @Email:sports@thenational.ae

A State of Passion

Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi

Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah

Rating: 4/5

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Lamsa

Founder: Badr Ward

Launched: 2014

Employees: 60

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: EdTech

Funding to date: $15 million

THE BIO

Family: I have three siblings, one older brother (age 25) and two younger sisters, 20 and 13 

Favourite book: Asking for my favourite book has to be one of the hardest questions. However a current favourite would be Sidewalk by Mitchell Duneier

Favourite place to travel to: Any walkable city. I also love nature and wildlife 

What do you love eating or cooking: I’m constantly in the kitchen. Ever since I changed the way I eat I enjoy choosing and creating what goes into my body. However, nothing can top home cooked food from my parents. 

Favorite place to go in the UAE: A quiet beach.

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

The advice provided in our columns does not constitute legal advice and is provided for information only. Readers are encouraged to seek independent legal advice. 

UAE SQUAD FOR ASIAN JIU-JITSU CHAMPIONSHIP

Men’s squad: Faisal Al Ketbi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Kathiri, Thiab Al Nuaimi, Khaled Al Shehhi, Mohamed Ali Al Suwaidi, Farraj Khaled Al Awlaqi, Muhammad Al Ameri, Mahdi Al Awlaqi, Saeed Al Qubaisi, Abdullah Al Qubaisi and Hazaa Farhan

Women's squad: Hamda Al Shekheili, Shouq Al Dhanhani, Balqis Abdullah, Sharifa Al Namani, Asma Al Hosani, Maitha Sultan, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Maha Al Hanaei, Shamma Al Kalbani, Haya Al Jahuri, Mahra Mahfouz, Marwa Al Hosani, Tasneem Al Jahoori and Maryam Al Amri

COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The biog

Favourite food: Tabbouleh, greek salad and sushi

Favourite TV show: That 70s Show

Favourite animal: Ferrets, they are smart, sensitive, playful and loving

Favourite holiday destination: Seychelles, my resolution for 2020 is to visit as many spiritual retreats and animal shelters across the world as I can

Name of first pet: Eddy, a Persian cat that showed up at our home

Favourite dog breed: I love them all - if I had to pick Yorkshire terrier for small dogs and St Bernard's for big

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
Sheikh Zayed's poem

When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.

Your love is ruling over my heart

Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it

Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home

You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness

Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins

You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge

You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm

Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you

You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it

Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.