UAE batsman Suri hopes for the biggest ever Abu Dhabi T10

Cricket will come back stronger than ever, says UAE batsman Chirag Suri

In his own words, Chirag Suri is itching to get back on the field. Having been deprived of cricket by the Covid-19 pandemic, the talented UAE batsman now wants to feel that magical sound of bat hitting the ball again.
And the 25-year-old player was delighted that high-profile cricket would be back in the country after the organisers of the Abu Dhabi T10 had announced they would be staging the 2020 edition of the highly successful tournament in November.
"Hopefully we will be in a much safer environment by then and if the organisers manage to pull it off, I have every reason to believe that this will be the biggest Abu Dhabi T10 ever," Suri, who was a part of the Bangla Tigers team last season, told Khaleej Times.
"You know people are now hungry for cricket, they are watching highlights of old cricket matches. So they desperately want live cricket. I don't know if they will manage to host this year's T20 World Cup (in Australia). So considering all that, Abu Dhabi T10 will be huge."
And Robin Singh, the new UAE coach who won back-to-back T10 titles with Kerala Kings and Northern Warriors in the first two seasons of the tournament, has already started his work with the national team players, according to Suri.
"We have been having a few conversations with him (Robin) lately on Zoom. He has laid out a few plans for us for the coming months. Let's see how we can optimize that and you know the whole priority is to get back to training as fast as we can," Suri said.
"We are looking at options, how we can start training in smaller groups. You know, the England cricket team have started training this week. They are using particular set of training balls for each different player, they are not mixing it up. We are having a lot of discussion on that."

Chirag Suri is now analysing his game and analyisng his old videos to look at the areas he can improve on
The enforced break hasn't stopped Suri from working on his fitness and the mental side of the game.
"There is no better feeling for a cricketer than the sound of bat hitting the ball. You definitely miss it. But I have set up a few things at my own place to practice a few shots," he said.
"Of course, the feeling of competitiveness of a net session or a match, that you cannot replicate at home. So you just need to be mentally switched on. I am also speaking to my coaches, analyzing my game and analyisng my old videos to look at the areas I can improve on.
"Apart from that, I have been doing some high intensity workouts. It's fun in a way and it's also a good time to innovate. It's not been easy, of course, but it's been a good challenge both mentally and physically.
"We have to be ready as well because when sports resumes, matches will come thick and fast, we hope that when it resumes, there will be lot of cricket in the near future. Till then we have to be switched on. After some of the restricted have been relaxed, I have started jogging wearing a face mask. Also, I have worked on the mental side of the game."

Chirag Suri prefers to look on the brighter side of life
The New Delhi-born player then hailed the German government for setting an example by restarting the country's football league behind closed doors.
"I think the German government has done a good job. The UAE government has been doing a superb job as well. So with the precautions in place, we are itching to get back on the field," said Suri who made his ODI debut against the West Indies in 2018.
"As cricketers, we want to play. So the German league restarting, the English cricket team resuming training, these are good signs. We know cricket is going to be back and it's going to come back bigger than ever."
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com