If the UAE’s leading cricketers ever had any lingering doubts as to the credentials of their head coach, they will have wanted to have had their TVs on the cricket channel on Tuesday night.
As the gilded stars of Mumbai Indians started the party after their fifth IPL title in eight seasons, one of the few permanent fixtures of their setup strolled around contentedly in the background.
In the aftermath of the five-wicket win over Delhi Capitals, the TV crew did manage to cadge Robin Singh, Mumbai’s batting coach, for an interview.
Hands in his pockets, and attempting to deflect to his co-interviewee, Kieron Pollard, as often as possible, he did not seem overly willing to chat.
His answers were softly spoken, his demeanour understated. So much so that Ian Bishop and Simon Doull in the commentary box had to ask Pollard instead whether they expected to get much party out of him.
Off camera, Hardik Pandya chimed in with an answer. “He celebrates and then goes to the gym at 6am,” Pandya, the flamboyant Mumbai allrounder, said.
Pollard elaborated. “As West Indians, we tend to want to celebrate in front of everybody, but he is a different West Indian now,” Pollard said of Singh, who played 137 times for India, but was born in Trinidad.
“He has been out of the Caribbean for a very long time. He keeps it pretty subtle, but when he goes in the dressing room, we do celebrate. Then he gets back to the gym in the morning.”
When everyone else heads back to India, or to the other various points around the world they jetted in from, Singh will stay exactly where he is.
Mumbai’s title was sealed at Dubai International Stadium, which is just down the road from where he has an office, as the head coach of the UAE national team.
Before the IPL season started, he had been overseeing a low-key, 10-over competition for domestic cricketers at this same ground. The number of people in attendance was about the same, although the global TV audience was slightly different.
Even then, he preferred to be in the background, sat on a step trying to stay away from idle conversation, so he could focus on the cricket instead.
It has been nine months now since he was appointed as Dougie Brown's successor for the UAE.
Fair to say, it has been an odd tenure to date, with much of it spent monitoring his new charges remotely, having initially been stuck in India due to Covid-enforced travel restrictions, then, for the past two months, because of his IPL commitments.
Now he will set about preparing the UAE for whatever challenges come next. How the competitions calendar will look remains unclear because of Covid.
It does seem probable the next assignment for the national team will be a limited-overs triangular series against Scotland and Ireland in Abu Dhabi next month.
That will be a tough test against sides who have each taken wins off world champions England in the recent past.
Singh, though, will be up for the challenge. He has recent form for inverting expectations. Two of the outstanding players in Mumbai’s title winning campaign were, after all, the unheralded and uncapped Indians Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav – which is a tick in the box for their batting coach.
“It is always nice to be behind the scenes and contribute what you can to someone’s success,” Singh said on his TV interview.
“It feels really good when you see young guys actually stepping up to play. This year they took on most of the responsibility in the middle, as well as Polly and Hardik.”
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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Biography
Favourite book: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Holiday choice: Anything Disney-related
Proudest achievement: Receiving a presidential award for foreign services.
Family: Wife and three children.
Like motto: You always get what you ask for, the universe listens.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Karwaan
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala
Director: Akarsh Khurana
Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Specs:
The Specs:
Engine: 2.9-litre, V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Power: 444bhp
Torque: 600Nm
Price: AED 356,580 incl VAT
On sale: now.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
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- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
Results
Men's finals
45kg:Duc Le Hoang (VIE) beat Zolfi Amirhossein (IRI) points 29-28. 48kg: Naruephon Chittra (THA) beat Joseph Vanlalhruaia (IND) TKO round 2.
51kg: Sakchai Chamchit (THA) beat Salam Al Suwaid (IRQ) TKO round 1. 54kg: Veerasak Senanue (THA) beat Huynh Hoang Phi (VIE) 30-25.
57kg: Almaz Sarsembekov (KAZ) beat Tak Chuen Suen (MAC) RSC round 3. 60kg: Yerkanat Ospan (KAZ) beat Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) 30-27.
63.5kg: Abil Galiyev (KAZ) beat Nouredine Samir (UAE) 29-28. 67kg: Narin Wonglakhon (THA) beat Mohammed Mardi (UAE) 29-28.
71kg: Amine El Moatassime (UAE) w/o Shaker Al Tekreeti (IRQ). 75kg: Youssef Abboud (LBN) w/o Ayoob Saki (IRI).
81kg: Ilyass Habibali (UAE) beat Khaled Tarraf (LBN) 29-28. 86kg: Ali Takaloo (IRI) beat Emil Umayev (KAZ) 30-27.
91kg: Hamid Reza Kordabadi (IRI) beat Mohamad Osaily (LBN) RSC round 1. 91-plus kg: Mohammadrezapoor Shirmohammad (IRI) beat Abdulla Hasan (IRQ) 30-27.
Women's finals
45kg: Somruethai Siripathum (THA) beat Ha Huu Huynh (VIE) 30-27. 48kg: Thanawan Thongduang (THA) beat Colleen Saddi (PHI) 30-27.
51kg: Wansawang Srila Or (THA) beat Thuy Phuong Trieu (VIE) 29-28. 54kg: Ruchira Wongsriwo (THA) beat Zeinab Khatoun (LBN) 30-26.
57kg: Sara Idriss (LBN) beat Zahra Nasiri Bargh (IRI) 30-27. 60kg: Kaewrudee Kamtakrapoom (THA) beat Sedigheh Hajivand (IRI) TKO round 2.
63.5kg: Nadiya Moghaddam (IRI) w/o Reem Al Issa (JOR).
RESULT
Huddersfield Town 2 Manchester United 1
Huddersfield: Mooy (28'), Depoitre (33')
Manchester United: Rashford (78')
Man of the Match: Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield Town)
Profile Idealz
Company: Idealz
Founded: January 2018
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Size: (employees): 22
Investors: Co-founders and Venture Partners (9 per cent)
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
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SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%202-litre%20direct%20injection%20turbo%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%207-speed%20automatic%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20261hp%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20400Nm%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20From%20Dh134%2C999%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
