UAE cricket captain Raza happy to be back at training

Dubai - The Emirates Cricket Board has put all the strict health protocols in place for the group training sessions

Ahmed Raza is finally at peace with himself. After the Covid-19 pandemic robbed him of the chance to do what he loves doing, Raza, the captain of the UAE national cricket team, is back in his 'place for meditation' as the national cricket team resumed group training sessions last week at the ICC Academy in Dubai.
"It's an amazing feeling. Cricket is like meditation personally for me and I am sure for most of the cricketers," the 31-year-old Raza told Khaleej Times during an exclusive interview.

"It's my love, it's my passion. It's a place for meditation for me. I find my peace when I am playing cricket. So it was pretty hard not to be doing that for that long."
And the Emirates Cricket Board has put all the strict health protocols in place for the group training sessions following the Covid-19-enforced break.
"The guidelines of the ICC and the Dubai Sports Council, we have been following that very strictly. There are sanitisers everywhere at the academy, the bowlers get to keep their ball, that ball is not shared with anyone. They use it in the next session as well," Raza said.
"The social distancing has been maintained, we don't have a lot of people in one net. So we have a smaller group in one net, another group in another net and then someone will be fielding, someone else will be doing some other drill but we are all fairly socially distanced."
Raza believes athletes need to be smart with their training methods in the time of Covid-19.
"We have to be smart about this because the threat of this Covid has not gone yet. We have to make use of this opportunity which has been given to us by our board. At the same time, we have to work on our skills because we don't know when we are going back to playing competitive cricket again. So we have to work on all those things, but we need to be smart and follow the guidelines as well."
New coach Robin Singh, according to Raza, has already started sharing his ideas, albeit virtually.
"We already had a lot of Zoom calls. Out groups sessions have been filmed and those have been shared with our analysts and coach," Raza said.
"It would have been ideal if he was around but these are unprecedented times and things are not in our control."
Raza then revealed why athletes are better prepared mentally to deal with an unprecedented situation like the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Being an athlete, you are mentally stronger than most people I would say, because the ups and downs you go through and the pressure situations you go through. I think that over the years makes you stronger mentally," he said.
The left-arm spinner who grew up admiring the skills of Kiwi legend Daniel Vettori, finally opened up on how the players would get used to the new normal of cricket without saliva.
"We are training our brains to do that. I know it's more habitual (to apply saliva to the ball), but again, it's just how you train your brain to get over that," he said.
"Plus, playing in the UAE, there will be lot of sweat. Our fast bowlers are very skillful, I am sure they will come up with some better plans."
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com