Mallya was a regular visitor for Sharjah’s Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS). “Mallya used to own two VIP boxes in the stadium and he made sure he enjoyed almost all the matches in the company of his friends during the eighties and nineties,” remarked Mazhar Khan, the General Manager of the Sharjah Cricket Stadium to Gulf News.

Mallya is a friend of Abdulrehman Bukhatir, who was responsible for sowing the seeds of cricket in this desert by bringing international cricketers to play in matches at Sharjah. It was also a special moment for Khalaf and Waleed Bukhatir, the two sons of Bukhatir who were very young when Mallya used to visit the stadium. Abdulrehman Bukhatir could not attend the first match as he is abroad and is expected to return in time for the third match at Sharjah.

Khan was also the chief coordinator of the CBFS and hence used to make all arrangements for the VIPs and film stars to be comfortable in their special boxes at the ground which used to have a fridge and individuals small televisions on each box.

Mallya who is one of India’s leading industrialists is an ardent sports lover and owns Force India Formula One team. He had purchased Indian star all-rounder Yuvraj Singh for a whopping Rs140 million (Dh8.52 million) in the player’s auction. After Singh’s match winning knock in Sharjah, Mallya said: “What particularly pleased me was Yuvraj Singh coming back to his old vintage self. His stroke play was magnificent.”

Before the start of the IPL’s seventh edition, Mallya gave a pep talk to his team players and said: “You can do it, you know you can do it. Just go do it and we want to take that IPL-7 trophy in our hands this year, so good luck to all of you and we have a great team, great atmosphere. Play hard and party hard too.”

source: http://www.gulfnews.com / GulfNews.com / Home> IPL2014 / by K. R. Nayar, Chief Cricket Writer / April 19th,m 2014