ICC Under 19 World Cup: Sanju Samson polices his future carefully

DUBAI // Given the mixed success rate of players who pass through Under 19 World Cups, it is advisable for them to have a fall-back option if cricket does not work out.

Ironically, the one player who is furthest down the road to stardom out of the Class of 2014 is the one with the clearest idea of what he wants to be when he is all grown up.

“Now I want to be a policeman, an [Indian Police Service] officer, and I am studying for it,” says Sanju Samson, the India U19 vice captain, Indian Premier League star and aspiring constable.

Which is all very honourable and practical, of course. But he is still only young, so what about a bit of blue-sky dreaming?

Does he not want to be a professional sports star? Like all teenagers, of course he does.

“I love to score goals,” Samson says. Add aspiring centre-forward to the list of career options. Ideally in the claret and blue of Barcelona.

While the rest of the Indian U19 players are mooching around in their team-issue yellow Nike backpacks at this tournament, Samson will be doing his own thing.

He has a Barcelona rucksack, reflecting his love for the Catalan side as well as a sport which he says enjoys equal billing with cricket in his native state, Kerala.

“In Kerala, people enjoy both football and cricket and I love playing football,” says Samson, who idolised Ronaldinho first, and now Lionel Messi. “My father is a football player, too.”

His father, Viswanath, is also the driving force behind the desire to join the police.

The elder Samson was a constable with Delhi police before taking voluntary retirement to move to Kerala for the benefit of his 10-year-old son’s cricket.

“Obviously, the competition level in Delhi is higher than in Kerala,” the cricketer says. “It wasn’t that I went to Kerala because the competition was too high; it was just that from a young age it was my father’s dream for me to play for Kerala.”

So, finally, cricket does fit in to his future, then. You would hope it might, given he is already one of the hottest properties in the sport.

Rajasthan Royals retained the services of Sanju’s clean ball-striking for the IPL and Rahul Dravid, the Indian batting great, has spoken in luminous terms of his potential.

Given the instant celebrity that comes with being an IPL success story, it would be easy for an impressionable teenager to act like a diva. In Sanju’s case, that has not occurred.

While billions of rupees were being spent in the IPL auction this week, he was just where he wanted to be: on the playing field with his mates preparing for the U19 World Cup.

“First of all, I don’t consider myself a star right now,” he says.

“I have wanted to play in the Under 19 World Cup since last year when I was dropped from the side. It is one of the big things in my life and I am looking forward to it.

“I just want to enjoy each and every match I play. It doesn’t matter if it is senior, IPL or Under 19 cricket, it is the same for me.

“I give the same effort and I’m hungry for success in any match I play.”

It is difficult to think of any other young superstar in the making who could possibly be as well adjusted as this 19-year-old youngster.

After conducting an engaging interview at the ICC Academy in Dubai, following India’s warm-up loss to South Africa, he asks for feedback on how he did. You reckon Kevin Pietersen has ever done that?

He just wants to get better at it, he says. Which is good thinking on his part. Given his upward curve he is on, he could be in for a fair few interviews between now and the time his cricket career is out.

India’s millionaires-in-waiting have a good mentor looking over them here, in Bharati Arun, who gives the impression of being a kindly uncle in his role as coach of the age-group side.

“There is no question about money at the Under 19 level,” Arun said of the clash between the warm-up matches here and the lucrative trade for most of his players in the auction.

“What we realised also was this would probably be the last time we would be playing together as a group.

“We said we would have a great time and enjoy ourselves and that is exactly what is happening.”

He has a ready disciple in the form of his side’s most famous player.

“I just love to play the game of cricket,” said Samson, who will lead his side into Saturday’s grudge match against Pakistan.

“I love playing with my teammates. I’ve been with this team for the past nine months and I enjoy playing with them.”

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

Specs

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A MINECRAFT MOVIE

Director: Jared Hess

Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

Rating: 3/5

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The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

UAE and Coronavirus

Test

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Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company

Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.

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Director: Guy Ritchie

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Dubai World Cup Carnival card:

6.30pm: Handicap (Turf) | US$175,000 | 2,410 metres

7.05pm: UAE 1000 Guineas Trial Conditions (Dirt) | $100,000 | 1,400m

7.40pm: Handicap (T) | $145,000 | 1,000m

8.15pm: Dubawi Stakes Group 3 (D) | $200,000 | 1,200m

8.50pm: Singspiel Stakes Group 3 (T) | $200,000 | 1,800m

9.25pm: Handicap (T) | $175,000 | 1,400m

In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013

On Women's Day

Dr Nawal Al-Hosany: Why more women should be on the frontlines of climate action

Shelina Janmohamed: Why shouldn't a spouse be compensated fairly for housework?

Samar Elmnhrawy: How companies in the Middle East can catch up on gender equality

The National Editorial: Is there much to celebrate on International Women's Day 2021?

Schedule:

Pakistan v Sri Lanka:
28 Sep-2 Oct, 1st Test, Abu Dhabi
6-10 Oct, 2nd Test (day-night), Dubai
13 Oct, 1st ODI, Dubai
16 Oct, 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi
18 Oct, 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi
20 Oct, 4th ODI, Sharjah
23 Oct, 5th ODI, Sharjah
26 Oct, 1st T20I, Abu Dhabi
27 Oct, 2nd T20I, Abu Dhabi
29 Oct, 3rd T20I, Lahore

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THE LIGHT

Director: Tom Tykwer

Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger