Had life worked out a little differently for Vikum Sanjaya, he might have been preparing to play for Sri Lanka at the World Cup in India this week.
Instead, the Colombo-born bowler is one of a number of hopefuls chasing a contract in the DP World International League T20 in Dubai.
Back in 2017, he was plucked from Sri Lankan domestic cricket to tour South Africa and then Australia with the national team.
Opening the bowling with Lasith Malinga in a tour match in Canberra, he took three wickets and was player of the match.
He proceeded to play eight T20 internationals that year, including two against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.
And yet he departed the scene as quickly as he had emerged. That set of games in 2017 represents his entire national career for his home country.
Now aged 31, he is targeting a second crack at the international game having relocated to the UAE.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t get chances in Sri Lanka, even though I was in very good form,” Sanjaya said.
“I was also drafted in the Lanka Premier League, but unfortunately no one picked me. I tried for two or three years to get back into the Sri Lanka national side, and after it didn’t happen my head went down.
“I decided I had to leave. I don’t know why I was dropped.”
Frustrated at his diminishing opportunities in his homeland, Sanjaya accepted an invitation to play in the Bukhatir League in Sharjah.
He impressed with a seven-wicket haul in the country’s premier 50-over competition and was welcomed into the fold of UAE domestic cricket.
Now he aspires to represent the national team once he is eligible under the ICC’s three-year residency criteria.
“All the time I was updating my Facebook but no one was giving me an answer,” he said.
“I was uploading my videos, showing I was available, and speaking to my coaches in Sri Lanka. I was also speaking to our captain, Dasun Shanaka, who is a friend of mine, but no one was responding to me.
“I was really fit, and bowling at a nice pace at that time, but the selectors did not think of me.
Mentally my head went down with Sri Lanka, now I am playing here and I want to represent UAE when I qualify
Vikum Sanjaya
“Because mentally my head went down with Sri Lanka, now I am playing here and I want to represent UAE when I qualify.”
A handful of Sri Lanka caps does not guarantee anything for Sanjaya in his adopted country.
Getting one of the remaining available contracts to play in the full ILT20 competition will be tough enough, let alone forcing his way into the national team, judged by the standard of the ongoing development tournament in Dubai.
The six-team event is a chance for players to advertise their capabilities to the six franchises ahead of the new season, which will take place in January and February 2024.
Sanjaya, who is playing for Dynamos in the development tournament at the ICC Academy in Dubai, says the standard of competition is high.
“I want to play in the ILT20 tournament and this [development event] provides us with a good opportunity,” he said.
“I am working hard in this tournament. This opportunity is also really good because you get to play against UAE players.
“There are four or five fast bowlers I have seen bowling well, and this surface is good for fast bowlers.”
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
