From working as a waiter to Mumbai T20 League, Irfan Umair sails over one hurdle at a time

Mumbai, June 29 (IANS) The dust has settled on the 2026 edition of the T20 Mumbai League, and as the cricketers take a break before the start of the next domestic season, left-arm pacer Irfan Umair is one of those spending their time with satisfaction and anticipation.

Umair is satisfied with playing a key role in helping the Mumbai South Central Maratha Royals successfully defend their title, completing the two-peat with a narrow 8-run victory over ARCS Andheri in the final. The anticipation is for the upcoming domestic season, in which Umair hopes to continue.

The 29-year-old Umair ended the tournament involving eight teams with 10 wickets from seven matches. He was the second most successful bowler for the Maratha Royals, finishing behind the more experienced Tushar Deshpande; the two pacers hunted in pairs as they helped the Maratha Royals recover from two defeats to go on to reach the knockout stage by winning a must-win game. They eventually won their second title in the fourth season of the local T20 league.

“I loved bowling with Tushar Deshpande. It was an opportunity to learn from him, as he is quite experienced and has played for India. I liked observing how he did things before and during the match,” Umair told IANS in an interview.

Umair, who was also part of the Maratha Royals squad that won the title in the 2025 season, which was quite successful for him as he made his Ranji Trophy debut for Mumbai against eventual champions Jammu and Kashmir. He will be hoping to continue turning out for Mumbai at the domestic level and cement his place in the red-ball side too, establishing his credentials as an all-format player.

Hailing from Ranchi in Jharkhand, Umair has had an eventful journey to where he is now, surviving hardships and gliding over one roadblock at a time.

Having moved to Mumbai from Ranchi in Jharkhand when he was around 18, did odd jobs, worked at eateries as a waiter, at film shootings, served at weddings, and spent many nights at the railway stations, all the while training and playing local club cricket, aiming to make a career in cricket.

“The whole journey—how it started in Mumbai, and just how challenging it was. It was incredibly tough; words can’t even describe it. I feel it’s better not to share too many details; it’s a memory that constantly reminds me of everything I’ve been through. It’s a significant feeling. I won’t go into the specifics, but I did so much just to survive on a daily basis—working in hotels, on film shoots, and at events. I’d go to weddings, anyone’s wedding just to earn 300 rupees a day. I even slept at railway stations at times. What can I say? It was an intense experience in Mumbai,” he said.

The first breakthrough for Umair came when he made it big in the tennis-ball cricket circuit, playing all over the city and country and emerging as one of the highest-paid players in the Indian Street Premier League (ISPL), the tennis-ball version of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

But now Umair wants to concentrate on cork-ball cricket and a successful career in local leagues and eventually make it to the national level and the international stage.

“I had come here with a plan to focus solely on my career—not a career in tennis-ball cricket, but rather using tennis to earn money. However, daily life in Mumbai is so expensive that, despite not wanting to, I had to turn to tennis, given my financial situation. I did play tennis, and I also performed well in the ISPL—a major tournament—which fetched me a good pay cheque. But earning money was not my aim, I wanted to play cricket at the highest level,” said the left-arm pacer.

The T20 franchise cricket has opened a door for him, and Irfan Umair has his eyes set on the domestic circuit and hopes to do well and further his career in all formats.

–IANS

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