Delhi-born cricketer Aryan Saxena has slowly and steadily come up the ranks in UAE cricket. After shifting bases, Aryan has already played for UAE Under-19 and is now eyeing a place in the senior team.

Aryan, born in Delhi, started playing the sport for fun but soon decided to make it a profession.

“Basically, I’m from Delhi in India and initially I used to play the sport just for fun. Slowly, I started to gain more interest in the game, so, I told my parents about it and they got me enrolled in one of the academies in Delhi. We used to play with tennis ball there,” Aryan told News 18 CricketNext.

10 years back, in 2014, Aryan had to move to UAE with his family, but that didn’t stop him from playing cricket.

“We then shifted to UAE in 2014 as my mother got a job here and I got enrolled in an academy here and started playing with the hard ball. I started playing for different academies and people started noticing me. I finally made my debut for UAE Under-19 in 2021. It gave me a lot of confidence,” he added.

Saxena performed well for his side in the World Cup qualifiers, but they eventually lost in the final. But the all-rounder’s performance didn’t go unnoticed.

“I performed very well in the World Cup qualifiers. Unfortunately, we lost the final but I had a good run. I was happy for the team and myself also that we made it to the finals.

“Riding on my performances, I also got the opportunity to be a part of the men’s camp. My coaches have been very supportive right from 2014 till date,” he added.

The Delhi-born cricketer will now be a part of UAE’s Under-19 side for the Asia Cup later this year.

“I will be a part of the Under-19 team for the Asia Cup which is scheduled to take place in India in December. I just want to perform well there and get promoted to next level.”

UAE’s Domestic Structure

UAE’s domestic structure mostly comprises of shorter formats like T10, T20 while the inter-state tournament, that has four – five teams, is played in 50-over format.

“We mostly play the shorter formats like T10, T20. The 50-over format is played at the Under-19 level and senior level. I was a part of the senior team in one of the tournaments as well as I was leading the Under-19 side in other tournament. The Under-19 team that I led won the tournament.

“I represent Sharjah and was the player of the series in that competition. There is a state tournament which is called Inter Emirates where four – five different states play in a 50-over format,” Aryan explained.

Striking a balance between bat & ball

Aryan, being an all-rounder, has to strike a balance between bat and ball and take care of his fitness to have more stamina and stability in the field.

“I practice four – five days in a week. I start with facing the side arm for half an hour and then work on somethings that are not working for me. Talking about the fitness, I follow a very strict diet. Apart from that, I do gym and running quite religiously. I do gym for one hour and that too weight training because I do my cardio ahead of my practice,” he said.

“I also focus on building my muscle because if you have that, you will have more stamina and stability. Eventually, this will help you in the field.”

The UAE cricketer has a dream of picking Rohit Sharma’s wicket one day. “Rohit Sharma’s wicket is my dream,” Saxena concluded.