A gambler from Jaipur to Dubai

DUBAI: On March 12th, 2006, South Africa registered the highest run chase in One Day International cricket fixture scoring 438 runs against Australia, who set a target of 434 runs for South Africa to win. I gambled for Australia to win, but as always it was a futile exercise and I again lost. It was a shocking loss, but despite the loss I kept on gambling.
This was narrated by a cab driver Mohammad Ramzan Khan, 48, while travelling at Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Street, Dubai, the longest road in UAE.
He told me that till the age of 38 years he used to gamble for cricket matches but never won. Mohammad Ramzan Khan is from Jaipur, India, and is now living in Dubai for the last over ten years.
Ramzan never went to watch cricket matches but use to gamble for the matches played across the globe. With a smile on his face, he said that after so many losses he gradually stopped gambling but on the insistence of his friends on the pretext that Australia scored 434 which cannot be achieved, Ramzan gambled in favour of Australia but what happened is history, South Africa scored 438 and won the match.
He said that it is the fate and destiny that is controlled by the Nature, it is all in the hands of God.
He said he had stopped gambling after he lost Rs four lakh on gambling in Jaipur, that was enough. Ramzan was well settled in Jaipur but lost huge sum of money due to gambling; he never won, losses were his destiny.
Ramzan has no interest in watching cricket matches and his only interest was gambling on cricket matches. He says that he came to Dubai in search of a job to support his family. He has nothing to do in Jaipur, all the money gone and had no resources to help his family. He came to Dubai not for gambling but to earn livelihood for his family.
There is a lot of cricket in Dubai but now he has stopped gambling and would never do it again. “Now I am earning fair enough money to support my family,” Ramzan says adding that interestingly he landed in Dubai due to losses in gambling for cricket.
Ramzan is married having three children and he is grandfather too. He is well settled in Dubai and has no regrets and says that he lost many gambles but ‘life also remains a gamble’, one has to be very careful while playing with it.
Currently Asia Cup 2022 is being played in Dubai and Sharjah. There is lot of enthusiasm among Indian and Pakistani expatriates. The conversation between myself and Ramzan began when I asked that whether he will go to watch the match between India and Pakistan cricket match, on which he promptly replied ‘No’.
Ramazan became very informal and told me that he never goes to watch cricket matches but he has been a gambler for cricket matches. When I said should I publish your story in newspaper, to my surprise he replied, “Why not! Go ahead it might provide guideline to the gamblers.”
He kept on describing about his experience as a gambler in a very commanding manner.