‘I’ll do it for her’ - Ronak Panoly targets making UAE team to honour late grandmother

While some of the UAE’s leading cricketers might be forgiven for looking for respite from the fixture list, there are many who are hoping for precisely the opposite at present.

The national team have never known the type of workload they have faced of late. Over the past 12 months, the UAE have played 38 full international matches, plus three 50-over games in Kathmandu earlier this month that did not carry ODI status, but still counted towards Asia Cup qualifying.

Aside from that, the first edition of the DP World International League T20 in January and February provided another platform for the domestic elite to mix it with the best from abroad.

Many are showing signs of fatigue, but others are taking the current Emirates D50 tournament in Ajman as a chance to be noticed.

Chief among them is Ronak Panoly. The 20-year-old opener smashed 141 in the opening innings of the 50-over tournament last week at the top of the innings for Dubai.

The competition represents a new start for a young player who was on the cusp of the big leagues when he was signed by the Desert Vipers ILT20 side, only to be invalided out of the squad due to a shoulder injury.

Panoly hopes his century at the outset of the D50 is the start of him finding his way back to higher honours.

“The 10 days I spent with the Vipers were amazing,” Panoly said.

“I had torn my rotator cuff, which prevented me from throwing to full strength, which meant I wasn’t able to continue with the side, but in my time there I learnt a lot.

“All my friends were pretty mad at me. They pointed out this was a massive opportunity in your cricketing career, and that I should have got myself fit in time. I was angry with myself as well.

“But at the end of the day, if it is meant to be, it comes to you. As long as I am pushing in the right direction again, I am happy with myself.

“I am looking forward to coming back next year and trying to play in that league. I want to make a mark."

Panoly is targeting national recognition, too. “Having played for three years in the U19s, the goal is definitely to make the UAE men’s side,” he said.

“Whatever I am doing right now is working towards playing men’s cricket for the UAE. And not just playing, but going out there and doing well for the UAE and trying to dominate. That is my end goal.

“This is home for me so I would take a lot of pride in playing for the country.”

Panoly was born in India but brought to Dubai when he was one year old. While his parents were out at work, he was looked after by his grandmother, Bhargavi.

“Somebody just put a plastic bat in my hands when I was two years old, and my grandmother started throwing balls at me,” Panoly said.

“My love for the game was just instilled into me then. My grandmother was the closest person to me in the world.

“She took care of me when I was a kid. I remember her throwing a sponge ball at me, and I hit it back so hard at her and it hit her on the face.

“I was very sad, but she was saying, ‘It’s OK, it’s OK, don’t worry’. I was only about four years old at the time but I remember it, and remember wanting to be careful always after that.

“I started looking for places in the house where I could avoid breaking stuff.”

Having established himself as a young cricketer of great promise, Panoly began to become disaffected by the sport last year – only to have his passion for the game revived by the death of his grandmother.

“I had been having a rough patch for a couple of years,” Panoly said.

“Playing in the Bukhatir League 50-over competition, I got four good starts but nothing more. I started thinking to myself, what am I doing with this?

“A month later, my grandmother passed away. I was devastated. She had been the closest person to me in the world. I thought, if not for myself, I will do it for her.

“That was a new-found motivation, and new-found fire inside me. A day or two after she died, I got a century in a T20 game in which we were chasing 180.

“After that innings, a lot changed for me. I was the player of the tournament in that one, and a 10-over tournament that followed. I think those performances were picked up by the Vipers, and that’s when I was offered the contract.”