Harpreet Bhatia's incredible rise in UAE cricket continued as he was named captain of the national team for an upcoming tri-series.
Months after he became eligible to play for the UAE after being granted citizenship, left-handed batter Bhatia, who was playing domestic cricket in India up until recently, will now lead the UAE team on their tour of Jersey and Scotland.
It has been a remarkable turn of events for Bhatia who turns 35 next month. After seeing his dream of playing for India vanish, the former IPL player shifted his focus to domestic cricket in his home state of Madhya Pradesh in central India.
There, he received the life-altering opportunity to purse a new career in the UAE.
“I got a call from the coach [Lalchand Rajput], and felt like this was the best time to go out and play for the other country,” Bhatia had told The National of his decision to make the switch.
“Playing for India or for another country, when I was in Nepal standing for the national anthem, it was something special.
“Whether you play for India, or the UAE, it feels the same.”
The 15-member UAE squad will leave for Jersey on Sunday where they will play two 50-over warm-up matches against the hosts.
The team will then travel to Scotland for the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 tri-series. There, they will play hosts Scotland and Canada. The UAE squad will play a practice match against Scotland A on July 31.
There was no place in the team for veteran batter and captain Muhammad Waseem. Fast bowler Khuzaima Tanveer is recovering from injury.
UAE squad: Harpreet Singh Bhatia (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Adeeb Usmani (wk), Akshdeep Nath, Aryansh Sharma (wk), Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Arfan, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Shahdad, Muhammad Mohsin, Rahul Chopra, Simranjeet Singh, Sohaib Khan and Tanish Suri (wk).
Fixtures
Tour of Jersey and Scotland
Monday, July 27: Jersey v UAE 50-over match (Grainville, Jersey)
Wednesday, July 29: Jersey v UAE (Jersey)
Friday, July 31: Scotland A v UAE (Dundee)
CWC League 2 Tri-Series
Monday, August 3: Scotland v UAE (Dundee)
Wednesday, August 5: Canada v UAE (Dundee)
Sunday, August 9: Scotland v UAE (Dundee)
Tuesday, August 11: Canada v UAE (Dundee)
