India, Sports & Me: A Dream in Motion

"Dreams are not fixed things—they are living, breathing forces that evolve as we grow, learn, and change."

When I moved to India in 2009, I carried one dream in my heart: to help India qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

It didn’t take long—just a few meetings, conferences, and conversations with stakeholders—for me to realize something crucial: while World Cup qualification would be an extraordinary achievement, serving as a catalytic moment for Indian football, it wasn’t the most urgent dream to be chasing at the time. The soil wasn’t quite ready for that seed to bloom.

And so the dream evolved.

I began focusing on helping to build a sustainable, thriving Indian football ecosystem—one that could, over time, make World Cup qualification not just possible, but inevitable. Through my work with Dentsu, Libero Sports, and DSK Shivajians–Liverpool FC, I began to see the dream taking shape. Not just in strategy decks or sponsorship deals, but in the eyes of young players, fans, and professionals who started to believe that Indian football could be more than a passion project—it could be a career, a movement, a national asset.

By 2016—seven years in—I had another realization. While some of my projects had helped spark belief, now, my role was to empower and equip others to carry the torch. What India needed was not just a handful of believers, but an army of trained, capable dreamers who could build and lead the sports industry of the future.

That’s when the next evolution took root. In 2018, Gaurav Modwel and I established the Global Institute of Sports Business—an education platform designed to professionalize the Indian sports industry by producing job-ready, impact-driven leaders. And I’m proud to say: it’s working. Our alumni are now contributing across every part of the Indian sports ecosystem, making real change happen.

Now, here we are in 2025. Seven more years have passed. And again, my dream has evolved.

Today, I dream of an India achieving sustained success on the world’s biggest sporting stages. I dream of Olympic medals and World Cup qualifications. But beyond that, I dream of an India where sports is a respected, accessible career path, regardless of your background, class, or community.

This is a bold, audacious dream. And to bring it to life, I knew I needed a new platform and an exceptional team.

As I often say, when a dreamer takes aligned action, the universe responds.

And it did—beautifully.

In March 2025, I began a new chapter as the Chief Executive Officer of the Dream Sports Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Dream Sports—one of India’s most powerful sports tech companies. Dream Sports, the parent of Dream11, FanCode, Dream Set Go and more, is on a mission to make sports better for fans, athletes, and the industry at large. The Foundation is where that mission takes root at the grassroots—where access, opportunity, and transformation begin.

I feel deeply grateful—for the opportunity, for the incredible team I now get to lead, and for the future we’re building together. A future where Indian athletes stand on Olympic podiums. Where the football team regularly qualifies for the FIFA World Cup. And where any child—no matter where they come from—can see sports not just as a dream, but as a legitimate, supported, and celebrated path.

To everyone who has followed my journey over the years, let me leave you with this:

Keep dreaming. Take action. Let your dream evolve.

And remember—when your dream is in service of others, when it contributes to something greater than yourself, the universe will always conspire to help you bring it to life.




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