Chirag Suri: There is nothing bigger than the World Cup

When Chirag Suri was assembling his highest T20 international score on Saturday, seven days after doing the same in ODI cricket, the timing was neat.

At the exact same time, across the Arabian Sea, millions of dollars were being gorged at the Indian Premier League mega auction.

At various points around the globe, cricketers were having their lives changed in an instant, with the promise of eye-watering salaries to play alongside the greats of the game.

Suri is the lone UAE player who can vaguely empathise. He remains the only one from these shores so far to have been contracted within franchise cricket’s biggest show.

It is nearly five years now since he spent a season with Gujarat Lions. When his name went under the hammer at the 2017 auction, he was moved to tears.

Friday, February 18: 10am - Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm - Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain

Saturday, February 19: 10am - Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm - UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain

Monday, February 21: 10am - Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm - Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines

Tuesday, February 22: 2pm – semi-finals

Thursday, February 24: 2pm – final

UAE squad: Ahmed Raza (captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia

All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv

It was a special day in his life. So maybe the memory of it prompted his 84 not out against Nepal on this year’s mega auction day? Not a bit of it. In fact, he had to be made aware of the coincidence.

“It’s true that the auction was going on,” Suri said. “Obviously, that is one of