Colonel Arvinder Singh and his operation T10 mission

By K.R. Nayar

Colonel Arvinder Singh, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Abu Dhabi T10 ensures that the operation of staging the event is of the highest standard. He revealed how through meticulous planning and working closely with Abu Dhabi Cricket, the league has produced contests which go till the wire.

Colonel Arvinder Singh, COO Abu Dhabi T10

Top cricketers from around the world are lauding the Abu Dhabi T10. Liam Livingstone is someone who believes that T10 will boost other formats. Faf Du Plessis, Eoin Morgan, Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell have all expressed their joy of playing in this format.

Organisers of the event make sure that the event keeps up its high standards and expectations through their minutely planned operations. Arvinder Singh, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Abu Dhabi T10, makes it a point to confirm that everything is in place much before the start of the event and also during the course of the daily matches. Singh, who was a Colonel in the Indian Army, does everything with the discipline and precision.

“We are getting better every year and have put together a team that delivers. Abu Dhabi Cricket ensures everything is in order and hence matches have been of the highest quality,” remarked Singh.

Elaborating on how he goes about the tasks, Singh said: “We have been staging this tournament in Abu Dhabi for the last three years. The fact that it is a wonderful stadium makes it special, and the efforts that everyone has put in have ensured high quality cricket. Many were worried over the pitches as the Indian Premier League and the ICC T20 World Cup matches were also played on it. Kudos to them for maintaining the pitch very well. The proof of it is that most of the matches in this edition has gone to the wires and the quality of cricket that has been on display has been outstanding.”

Colonel Singh speaks about Abu Dhabi T10's operations 

What make Singh happy is the fact that the event has brought a cheer to everyone:  “The viewers of the event have been very happy. The production of the event has been of the highest quality. The sponsors are also happy.”

Singh commences his work many months before the start of the event. “This year we staged two editions of the event since the fourth edition was held in January to February. We did not take a break after that and made sure that by mid-April we had locked all the players. Top players gave their commitment too. Registration was all done online. We had 1186 players registering from 26 different countries to play in the event. We categorized them into A, B and C groups, and hence teams knew much ahead of time who their players would be, and that enabled them to do their planning.”

Taking about a few players pulling out, Singh said: “Shahid Afridi and Nicholas Pooran had to pull out due to personal commitments. Chennai Braves’ top five players too had to drop out. Otherwise everything was in order for the teams.”

Singh also revealed that some of the top players from the UAE had to miss the event. “Though there were many UAE players as part of the teams, some of the UAE national team players had to skip this event since they had play in the World Cup qualifier matches. Those UAE players who played have benefitted immensely through this tournament. Due to their impressive performance in T10, many of them have been picked for franchise leagues in different countries.”

The COO now wants to take this format to other parts of the world. “There is a huge viewership for T10 from different part of the world specially USA, South Africa, Sri Lanka and other countries where cricket is progressing at a rapid pace. In the last 11 hours we had 1.2 million viewers for the matches,” says Singh who carries with him the experience of having been the former CEO of IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab and Gujarat Lions.