Chirag Suri, the former UAE vice-captain, has decided to take an indefinite hiatus from cricket due to growing disillusionment with the sport. Despite being one of the world’s top run-scorers in one-day international cricket last year, with 586 ODI runs, including two centuries, Suri has seen limited opportunities with the national team.
Since the Cricket World Cup League 2 series in Scotland in August 2022, where he played a pivotal role, Suri has only featured in two ODIs for the UAE. He also made an appearance at the T20 World Cup in Australia but was left out of the team for the final game. Recently, he opted out of participating in the International League T20 development tournament, which serves as a platform for players to showcase their skills to the main DP World ILT20 franchises.
Suri’s sporadic appearances were partly attributed to a hamstring injury, and during his recovery, he felt neglected and fell out of love with the game. He left his central contract and shifted his focus to real estate development during his time away from cricket. Suri expressed dissatisfaction with the atmosphere within the national team, stating that he played cricket for the love of the game and not merely as a means of livelihood.
His recent stints with the national team coincided with a period marked by frequent changes in team leadership and low morale. Suri, the first UAE player to join the Indian Premier League (IPL), emphasized that players were feeling undervalued and that the game had lost its enjoyment due to the prevailing environment.
Despite appreciating the opportunities given to young players, Suri believed that constantly changing the team’s composition could lead to inconsistency in performance. He pointed out that Oman, for instance, consistently stuck with the same players for a decade, which contributed to their success.
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