Nilansh Keswani is the skinny, bespectacled teenager taking UAE domestic cricket by storm

Keswani, 17, has shone with bat and ball so far in this season's Bukhatir League, and he only aims to get better

Young UAE cricketer Nilansh Keswani training at the ICC Academy in Dubai. All photos by Reem Mohammed / The National unless stated.

Nilansh Keswani’s extraordinary spell of six for 17 off 10 overs in Dubai Starlets' opening game included dismissing stars of the national team like Rohan Mustafa and Vriitya Aravind.

The left-arm spinner followed that up with four for 25 next time out, and also struck a hundred with the bat for good measure.

Nilansh Keswani training with coach Qasim Ali at ICC Academy.

The Dubai-born spinner has more reasons than most for his fierce drive to succeed. His father died when he was a young child, and his mother was recently made redundant. He says he wants to excel in the sport to honour each of them.

Nilansh Keswani alongside coach Qasim Ali.

Dubai's Nilansh Keswani bowls in the game between Dubai and Fujairah in the Emirates D20. Monday, December 7th, 2020 in Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Given how lopsided matches involving Dubai Starlets have been so far in the country’s leading cricket competition, it might be easy to assume they are a team of men playing against boys.

The Dubai side have dominated the group phase of the Bukhatir League, the UAE’s oldest and most revered domestic tournament, so far.

On the opening day, they thrashed a Phoenix Medicines side that included seven players from the UAE squad that faced Ireland last month – bowling them out for a measly 56 in the process.

Next time out, they trounced Noble Future Land by an astonishing 436 runs.

And yet those doing the bullying are a team mostly made up of callow youngsters, whose outstanding player is a skinny, bespectacled 17-year-old spinner.

Nilansh Keswani’s extraordinary spell of 6-17 off 10 overs in the opening game included dismissing stars of the national team like Rohan Mustafa and Vriitya Aravind.

The left-arm spinner followed that up with 4-25 next time out, and also struck a hundred with the bat for good measure.

“Coming into the tournament, nobody expected us to top the group as we are all U19 kids, except for a couple of players,” Keswani said.

“Getting them out for a record low of 56 all out was really good. For me, getting three or four national team players out was a good achievement.

“I have played against Vriitya a lot before, and I had played against Rohan Mustafa and those guys in the D20 tournament.

“I felt they had got the better of me in the D20 tournament. Since this [Bukhatir League] is a 50-over tournament, I wasn’t so fussed by being hit.

“If I got hit for a few runs, but got their wickets, that would have been an achievement for me.”

The Dubai-born spinner has more reasons than most for his fierce drive to succeed.

His father died when he was a child, and his mother was recently made redundant.

He says he wants to excel in the sport to honour each of them.

“There is no income coming in, so getting performances in like this means a lot to me and to her,” Keswani said.

“My dad wanted me to become a cricketer. He never really played the game, but he loved to watch it.

“I didn’t start taking the game seriously until I was 14 or 15, which was when I started thinking about the game as a profession.

“Knowing how my family has struggled, I know that cricket is something I would love to do.

“Making the U19 team for the World Cup Qualifier is the short-term goal for me, and then the senior men’s side is the long term [goal].”

His recent excellence will not have gone unnoticed by a national team who have shown a new willingness to back young players.

And the captain of the side – a fellow left-armer - is a role model of his, too.

“One of my heroes in Ravindra Jadeja, and from the domestic circuit it is Ahmed Raza,” Keswani said.

“After the six-for [in the Bukhatir League] Ahmed messaged me and said, ‘This is good, but don’t let this performance get into your head. Keep performing, because the better your team does the more games you get to play in Bukhatir League, and it is one of the best tournaments on the circuit.’

“He told me to keep performing. For the past year he has been giving me valuable tips. I’ve focused on what he has been telling me to do, and now I am performing.”

_____________

World's most beautiful grounds

1). Cricket has been blessed with some truly beautiful venues, as this picture gallery will show. Picturesque stadiums are dotted across the globe, and we can add another name to the list. The Gwadar Cricket Stadium in Balochistan, Pakistan, has one of the most stunning backdrops in the world. Courtesy @falamb3

2) Queenstown, New Zealand. New Zealand could fill the top 10 of a list like this all on its own. The Queenstown Events Centre is a prosaic name for an extraordinary venue in the country’s south, which has the Remarkables mountain range as its backdrop.

3) Dharamshala, India. India will see New Zealand’s Remarkables, and raise them the Dhauladhar mountains, which are part of the Himalayas. Has there ever been a more spectacular setting for a major ICC tournament? The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium hosted matches at the 2016 World T20.

4) Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. From one side of the Himalayas to another. Nepal’s international cricket ground is built halfway up a hill that leads from the road from Kirtipur to Kathmandu at the bottom, to the campus of the country’s largest university at the top. When Sandeep Lamichhane and Co are in action, thousands throng the banks inside the grounds walls, while many others find canny vantage points outside.

5) Lord’s, London. OK, so it doesn’t back on to the Himalayas or the Remarkables. But, still, cricket grounds don’t come any more handsome. The Grade II* listed Pavilion must surely be the best-known structure in the sport. It is undergoing refurbishment at the Nursery End, so will have a slightly different look next time we see it.

6) Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, New Zealand. Unquestionably beautiful, and more than a little quirky, given the way the viewing areas are cut away from the hills to the sides of the ground. And just sneaks into this list on account of the one ODI it staged, between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe at the 1992 World Cup.

7) Pallekele, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka might be the closest rival to New Zealand in a list of the loveliest international venues. Pallekele International Stadium, 7kms from Muttiah Muralitharan’s home town of Kundesale, was built – by an Emirati businessman, incidentally – among the hills of the Kandy plateau.

8) Newlands, South Africa. It is not clear which is the most photographed ground in word cricket, but this one must be up there. There are few more striking sights at any venue than when the Tablecloth rolls in over the mountain behind.

9) Al Amerat, Oman. Oman’s first turf grounds staged ODI cricket for the first time in January, when UAE played there in Cricket World Cup League Two. The Oman Cricket Academy grounds are surrounded by the Western Al Hajar mountains. And they’re gorgeous.

10) Galle, Sri Lanka. A six-hit from the Indian Ocean, Galle International Stadium is a perennial favourite for almost everyone – apart from bowlers, perhaps. The view back towards the old fort is among the most celebrated on the international circuit.

11) Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. International cricket does not make it here quite so often since what was then the Bombay Cricket Association decided to build the Wankhede Stadium half a mile up the road instead. But maybe only Lord’s reeks more of historic splendour than the Cricket Club of India’s ground.

12) National Cricket Stadium, Grenada. Refitted in time for the 2007 World Cup, the Spice Isle’s National Cricket Stadium is situated just along the coast from Grand Anse Beach. It is walled on three sides by lush green hills, and on the other is the Caribbean Sea.

13) Adelaide Oval, Australia. Many Australian grounds have supplanted former charm with unsympathetic new-build stands. The benches may have gone, but the Adelaide Oval still retains most of its allure.

14) Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi. Arguably the most eye-catching of international cricket’s modern structures. On the approach to the ground, it looks as though the Starship Enterprise has landed in the desert. The state-of-the-art grandstand contrasts with the pleasantly old-fashioned grass banks square of the wicket.

15) Quetta, Pakistan. Pakistan suffers in a list like this for the fact most of its international grounds are city centred, and generally have unspectacular views. Extend the criteria to domestic grounds, and Abbottabad would be a shoo-in. Quetta’s Bugti Stadium, which staged ODI cricket in 1996, is scenic – even when not dressed in snow.

16) Singapore Cricket Club. This just goes to show that city-centre grounds can be spectacular, provided the city centre is spectacular. The historic Padang hosted an ODI series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 1996.

17) Scarborough, England. Out of commission as an international venue since the late 1970s, and unlikely to return to the roster any time soon. No harm in remaining a charming little secret, though. North Marine Drive hosts county matches for Yorkshire.

18) Basin Reserve, Wellington. It is stationed on a roundabout, and has a public footpath running through it, which does not exactly sound too special. But the older and smaller of the two international venues in New Zealand’s capital is a classic.

19) Sylhet, Bangladesh. On one side of the ground, Sylhet International Stadium is accessible only via a tramp through jungle. Built just outside of town, in the tea-producing area of Bangladesh’s north-east, it has a different feel to many of the country’s other utilitarian stadiums. UAE played there in the 2014 World T20.

20) The Grange, Edinburgh. Lined by sandstone houses that are characteristic of Edinburgh, and with a distinctive pavilion, the Grange hosted matches at the 1999 World Cup – and more recently, Scotland’s win over England in 2018.

21) Daren Sammy National Stadium, St Lucia. Built to host matches at the 2007 World Cup, it was later renamed to honour the country’s greatest cricketer. Inland from the coast, but surrounded by verdant hills pockmarked with houses.

22) Sydney Cricket Ground. Much of its previous character has been chipped away with the new, practical stands, but its two most notable landmarks – the Ladies Pavilion and the adjacent Members Pavilion - remain.

23) Chester-le-Street, England. The Riverside Ground is in view of Lumley Castle. Which wins it extra points for style, given that was where Shane Watson and a number of other Australia players were spooked by the ghost of Lily of Lumley in 2005.

24) Nelson, New Zealand. The Saxton Oval, where the UAE played their first World Cup match in 19 years in 2005, was half the world away – literally and figuratively – from what the national team players were used to. From Sharjah, they had been transported to the green and pleasant land of the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island.

25) The Wanderers, Johannesburg. South Africa’s biggest cricket ground by capacity. It might lack the natural splendour of Newlands, but it still has plenty of architectural character.

26) Kensington Oval, Barbados. The atmosphere may be entirely different to what it once was, but it retains a unique feel. The Garfield Sobers Pavilion remains its most endearing feature.

_____________

Keswani also captained his ICC Academy side to the title in the final of the Emirates Cricket Board’s Academies league.

Qasim Ali, the ICC Academy coach, says a player who has emerged from their scholarship programme is developing into a fine player.

“This year we have made him captain to help him understand the game better, and to improve and develop his leadership qualities,” Qasim said.

“In terms of his left-arm spin, he bowls similar to [Pakistan star] Imad Wasim in terms of the outcome, although his method is very different.

“We are trying to help him develop the skills to be more resourceful for when he plays for the UAE U19s, and the seniors when he grows up.

“His role model is Ahmed Raza, and he would hope to reach a point where he could bowl with him, or one-day replace him.

"He is a gutsy, defiant character, and he needs to channel that in the right way.”