UAE cricket players will be tempted by riches of retirement in MCL and PSL

Work less, earn more money. It is the simple, too-good-to-be-true-so-surely-it-must-be dream everyone chases, right?

In cricket, it has been possible for some time now. Sacrifice some of your international representative privileges in the longer formats, and, if your services suit the market, cash in at Twenty20.

For all but the top international players, it makes perfect sense. And two more opportunities to join the gravy train will be available from the end of this month, when the Masters Champions League (MCL) and the Pakistan Super League (PSL) start in Dubai.

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That they are being played here is intriguing. The Twenty20 franchise revolution has redrawn the idea of club versus country abroad, but it has generally been a pipe dream for cricketers from this country. Being a cricket player in the UAE has never been remotely lucrative.

For years, leading players have hoped to do enough in their limited opportunities to advertise their wares to get a crack at a brief jaunt to play T20 somewhere.

None was forthcoming. Saqib Ali, one of the leading UAE batsmen over the past decade, got closest. He once had a contract to play in the Bangladesh Premier League, but he could not take it up because he could not get a visa.

Now, though, three of this country’s finest players will get some overdue airtime. Khurram Khan, Mohammed Tauqir and Saqib have been recruited by the MCL, the tournament for retired stars.

Khurram landed the best deal of the trio – each of whom retired after age caught up with them – being recruited by Sagittarius Soldiers for US$22,000 (Dh80,000) for the 17-day tournament.

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That is marginally more than the national team players earned for two months at the World Cup last year, a tournament that represented the pinnacle of achievement for them and their biggest payday to date.

A fourth UAE player, Shaiman Anwar, made it as far as the 308-player draft for the PSL. He was left on the shelf, though, and remains part of the national team those three have left behind.

With his 37th birthday approaching, Shaiman would surely have been tempted to throw in his lot with the MCL, had he not thought he had a chance in the PSL.

His World Cup exploits, when he was the UAE’s leading run-scorer, are still fresh in the memory so it is easy to believe he would have got a gig.

Instead, he is part of a UAE squad readying themselves for a non-televised, non-ticketed series against the Netherlands.

It starts today with four days of low-stakes cricket in the Intercontinental Cup, a tournament whose relevance and financial viability seems increasingly tenuous.

And the UAE’s players are still waiting on the details of the first batch of central contracts.

The premise of the MCL lies on the borderline between being a reward for a career well spent and an inducement to retire prematurely.

Given that UAE cricketers, it turns out, can now make more money, pro rata, in retirement than in their playing days, hanging up their representative spikes must be tempting.

pradley@thenational.ae