Dubai-it: Chirag Suri, from the cricket crease to real estate success

From the Dubai kid selected in the IPL (Indian Premier League) auction to a realtor closing a 123-million-dirham deal with charm, Chirag Suri is living the Dubai dream. He just Dubai-it! He calls the city the place that holds the best of East and West in perfect balance.

There was a time when his mother would nudge him to focus on his studies, much like any other Indian mum — but his father, passionate about cricket, would come to the rescue. His father was his first coach, taking him to the ground before he could even properly fit into his gear. "I was four or five years old. The pads were so big, they wouldn't fit me. But I would walk around wearing them — it just gave me satisfaction," he says of his father's role as his inspiration. "When I had a match at Sharjah Stadium, he would drive down an hour or an hour and a half in traffic to come watch my match. He would leave his work to make that trip."

That early support led to a colourful cricket journey, training under the legends he had looked up to as a kid. Suri made history in 2017 as the first UAE player to be picked in the IPL auction. He brims with pride when talking about representing the country he loves so much. "It was a big honour for me to play in the Under-19 World Cup and the T20 World Cup representing UAE." He was just nine when his family moved here from Delhi, India.

"You know, you don't expect people to come to UAE and live their cricketing dream. I thought I left my cricketing dreams behind in India."

"I'm grateful for that honour," he added, sitting in his plush home in Emirates Hills.

His mother's insistence on education paid off too. He completed his schooling at Repton School and graduated from Heriot-Watt University. "I tried to keep both of them happy," the doting son says.

Asked if he sees himself as a cricketer who sells some real estate, or the other way around, he says, "I'll always be a cricketer first — in my eyes, as well as my family's."

Over the past few years, though, his focus has shifted more toward real estate. "It's growing on me and I'm enjoying it," he says. He is currently growing his team and learning more while exploring new ideas, adding that his biggest close was a deal worth AED 123 million for his firm, Hills and Views.

"We are a boutique real estate firm, focusing on the 0.01 percent of the market."

"All our transactions are above ten million dollars [about AED 37 million] and we're proud of that."

His company builds only two to three luxury villas a year.

Calling his clientele "the best in the world," he says the billionaires they work with accept no less than 100 percent, and that it aligns with his personal ethos as well as that of his favourite city, Dubai.

Speaking about the past couple of months, he says, "... property is an asset that is always bankable. Prices haven't dropped, if you look at it."

Asked when the best time to enter the market was, he says it's never too late. “It's an opportunity,” he adds.

Off the pitch, though, cricket is never far away. "My dad used to say, till the time you are playing cricket, I feel young," Suri, 31, recalls.

Timeline

U-19 World Cup

Represented UAE in the tournament.

IPL Selection

First UAE player selected for the IPL (Gujarat Lions).

T20 World Cup

Competed in Australia.

Professional Transition

Shifted primary focus from active cricket to Real Estate CEO.

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Rayeesa Hassan is a Dubai-based writer who has called the city home since childhood. A journalist, she now heads her family's businesses. Her interests range from meditation, yoga, dance, and singing to travel and Sufi music.