Cricketers enthusiastic about beach cricket

Dubai - It took some time before the game got underway after the players and the ambassadors of the latest version of cricket got to the ground, in front of an audience, all seated around the dining arrangements during the cold windy night.

There was a big lineup of Bollywood and cricket stars at the HKSZ.TV & Group of Companies' Stars v Stars first ever beach cricket match, opposite the Umm Suqeim Park, late on Saturday night.
It took some time before the game got underway after the players and the ambassadors of the latest version of cricket got to the ground, in front of an audience, all seated around the dining arrangements during the cold windy night.
After Shahid Afridi arrived at the stars tent, brothers and former Indian players Yusuf and Irfan Pathan, joined him, followed by Andrew Symonds, the star batsman who once led the Australian middle order batting with aplomb.
"Got down here after a long and tedious flight and I am still getting out of the jet lag. This sort of outing does help in the sense that we have to be basically fit. The other former 'enemies' and now always friends of the sport, are all physically in top condition. So to be somewhere in the picture we have to be in some kind of shape," Symonds said.
Irfan said: "I am turning out regularly with my brother for Baroda now in the domestic competitions and I have still not given up on my hopes and chances for more international competition. Things have been going good for both my brother and me."
Yusuf said: "Nice to be here in Dubai to be playing in a first time beach cricket game. Each new stop and game teaches us new things which we can always use in our approach."
The other players due for the night's entertainment match were Pakistan's Imran Nazir, Wahab Riaz, Safraz Ahmed and SohailTanvir apart from Afridi, and India's off spinner Harbhajan Singh.
moni@khaleejtimes.com