Growing up there, obviously the childhood dream was to play for India. Now we, the UAE, will get the chance to play against them in the World Cup, having been put into their pool at next year's event. It really is a dream come true – of sorts.
There are a lot of ifs and buts you can think about. When you are in India, your only dream is to play for India at that time.
Because I’m an only child and my parents moved very early in my life to the UAE, I had no option.
I still keep in touch with Robin Uthappa, who has played a lot for the national team, and Stuart Binny, who is in the squad at the moment, who were teammates of mine in the junior Karnataka state side.
I had the same dream of playing for India as they did and I would have loved to have done. You see guys you played with playing for India, playing in the Indian Premier League and getting big contracts, and obviously you have regrets.
But at the same time I could also have been one of those guys who did not make it big. I could have been lost in domestic cricket. I would rather be here than there, representing the UAE in a World Cup against these guys. I am really happy to be in this position.
Most of my UAE teammates are Pakistanis and they are obviously feeling the same thing. It will be good to see the guys when they are playing against Pakistan.
We have all seen our opponents as big stars on the television – and now we are playing against them. It really is unreal.
Vikrant Shetty is an India-born UAE batsman. He was speaking to Paul Radley.
sports@thenational.ae
