Sharjah’s first match of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2021 when Namibia played Ireland in the 11th match of this edition on Friday (October 22, 2012) was special in many ways. It is from this venue that international cricket began in the UAE. That is why one cannot miss these words at the entrance to this stadium: “Welcome to the Home of Cricket in the UAE… “IT All STARTED HERE”.
For this venue to go on to stage a World Cup is a big achievement and a special moment. From the early eighties, it has played a huge role in popularising all formats of the game. In an interview with this reporter in 2002, Aburehman Bukhatir had remarked that Sharjah would one day be ready to host the World Cup, and it has happened now.
During that interview, Bukhatir, who was then the president of the Emirates Cricket Board, had also mentioned that it was his dream to see the UAE emerging as a Test-playing nation. This too may not be far away since the UAE has already played in the World Cup, both in the 50 over as well as T20 formats.
It has been a great journey for this venue, from entering the Guinness Book of World Records for hosting the maximum number of One Day Internationals to staging matches in all formats of the game including the shortest T10 format. All leading franchise league tournaments and some Test matches have been held at this venue, which is among the busiest alongside the Abu Dhabi Zayed Cricket Stadium and the Dubai International Stadium.
The Sharjah Stadium was beautifully dressed up for the World Cup with a blue-carpet welcome into the stadium. The venue has staged 241 One Day Internationals, and the Namibia-Ireland match was the 15th Twenty20 International to be held here. It was from here that all the excitement of the India-Pakistan matches commenced. Fans would make it special by turning out in large numbers. Mazhar Khan, the general manager of the stadium, says: “This stadium has always been for the cricket fans and of the cricket fans.”
The Sharjah Cricket Stadium has a reputation for producing thrillers. No match in Sharjah can be declared as a sure win for any team, especially if one looks at the numerous edge-of-the-seat matches played here. It was revamped just before the Indian Premier League.
Since Coca Cola is one of the sponsors for the ICC Twenty20 World, the giant scoreboard displayed the name of this drink repeatedly. It reminded me of reporting the Coca Cola Cup tri-nation tournament held at this venue in 1998. That was the first cricket tournament in Sharjah to be sponsored by Coca Cola and the tournament was held under the aegis of the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series. India, Australia, and New Zealand had competed in it. Sachin Tendulkar’s famous sandstorm knock was played during this tournament. More than 24,000 spectators had watched the final live which India won by six wickets beating Australia by 26 runs.
On Friday Namibia made history by beating Ireland, a Test-playing nation, to enter the Super 12 stage of the Twenty20 World Cup. The venue’s reputation of underdogs stunning the favorites thus continued.
This article has been used in arrangement with cricketlovers.com, Main image of Sharjah Cricket Stadium sourced from Wikipedia
