Desi Rascals stars on their love of cricket and the IPL

Stars of Sky Living reality TV series, Desi Rascals, visited Sky to take a tour of the studios, including the set used for the Indian Premier League.

Owais Khan, Shmoyel Siddiqui and Manoj Shah, stars of the series which follows the lives of British-Asian families in West London. are huge cricket fans and spoke of their love of the game.

How did you get into cricket?

Owais Khan: I’ve been playing since I was three years old. I was raised in Pakistan and you’re almost born with a cricket ball in your hand.

Shmoyel Siddiqui: I grew up over here but my Dad is a massive cricket fan so got me into it. I grew up initially supporting Pakistan, but started supporting England as well as I got older. But when the two play each other, I’ve got to root for Pakistan.

OK: What a politically correct answer! Cricket is the only sport I don’t support England in, and I’ll happily say it.

SS: Pakistan are the most exciting team, you never know what you’re going to get with them.

Manoj Shah: I learnt my cricket in this country but I was born in Africa. I’ve stopped playing now but I still follow cricket. I always support England in the Ashes.

SS: England in the Ashes all day.

OK: They’ve got to drop [Jonathan] Trott though.

Are you involved in cricket much yourselves?

OK: I used to play on the streets and then when I moved to England, I started taking it a lot more seriously. I was at Middlesex for a spell and then hurt my back so I had to stop playing.

SS: One of my best friend’s growing up is the Middlesex left-arm spinner, Ravi Patel. He’s a quality guy, and great player.

MS: I used to play for Bessborough. Mark Ramprakash used to play for us, I know him really well. He’s in the Caribbean at the moment doing a good job as batting coach with the England team.

OK: We all know that Manoj and Ramps are good mates. He’s always saying ‘look, I’ve got Ramps’ phone number. If I sent him a text he’ll reply’.

Test cricket or IPL?

OK: I’m a purist. I still love the longer format of the game, but what the IPL and T20 has done is given it a much broader platform and audience. But there still isn’t anything quite like watching the first day and the first ball of a Test. But I do love the IPL too, it’s awesome.

MS: My team would be the Mumbai Indians. The money in the game over there is incredible, and the support. 100,000 odd people go to the games.

SS: These aren’t even international games we’re talking about, they’re club games that are selling out. The turn-out is unbelievable.

OK: I was in India when the IPL started, I lived over there for three and a half years and I have an affiliation with Mumbai too. But there need to be a few more Pakistani players in the IPL though I think. But where the competition has gone in the last five years is incredible.

Do you have a favourite cricketer?

MS: My favourite player is Desmond Haynes. I had the privilege of being a 12th man in 1982 against Warwickshire at Lord’s. I made sure I was getting changed next to him in the dressing-room. He was my hero, a phenomenal player and I used to try to bat like him.

SS: Growing up for me, it was Wasim Akram and Imran Khan. Those guys were huge heroes of mine. Later on Shahid Afridi was always really exciting. He was an entertainer.

OK: No, Afridi broke my heart too many times. Wasim and Imran for me too.

Do you have a favourite cricketing memory/moment?

OK: I was in Pakistan for the 1992 World Cup win. Me and my Dad had gone back briefly, and I just remember it being crazy. The win came out of nowhere with Imran holding the team together. After he left, we haven’t really been the same. To have a leader like that, who literally carried the team over the line a lot of times himself, that’s something we’ve lacked since.

SS: For me, I was in my diapers for the 1992 World Cup, so the World T20 win in 2009 in England was massive. That was one time particularly when Afridi turned up, he was in great form throughout the tournament.

MS: Beating the West Indies in the final of the 1983 World Cup, that was awesome. India didn’t score many runs and the West Indies had an incredible batting line-up, but we won unbelievably and to do it at Lord’s, the home of cricket was just fantastic.

Look out for series two of Desi Rascals on Sky Living later this year.