Chundangapoyil Puthiyapurayil Rizwan is living a dream. The 34-year-old from Thalassery is leading the UAE in the T20 Asia Cup qualifiers in Oman and became the first Kerala-born cricketer to captain a country in international tournaments.
“It is a huge honour to lead the UAE and a dream come true, something I yearned for when I started playing cricket. I am thankful to coach Robin Singh and the Emirates Cricket Board for reposing faith in me. The captaincy comes with a lot of responsibilities. I will try to do well to live up to the huge expectations,’’ he told The Hindu.
With his career going nowhere and his dream of representing Kerala in Ranji Trophy almost over, C.P. Rizwan took an important decision in 2014 to migrate to the UAE. Former Kerala Ranji Trophy player C.T.K. Mashood offered him an opportunity to play club cricket in Dubai, and Rizwan grabbed it with both hands.
