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Afghanistan Get a ‘Home’ in Sharjah

“They deserve to have a place somewhere where they can come and feel that they are at home. They can the avail themselves of the facilities which we have here like the practice, light, turf and coaching facilities which I think they badly need for them to move forward,” said Bukhatir, founder of cricket in the UAE.

Bukhatir said that no formal request was made by Afghanistan, and felt that based on their recent success they deserved it. “Based on their performance they deserve this offer and they have accepted this. I’m glad that we are able to help them for them to build a 
solid future.”

Afghanistan recently emerged winners in the World Twenty20 qualifiers held in the UAE and booked their tickets to the Carribean for the World Twenty20 in April-May. “I’m very glad that they managed to qualify for the World Cup and I hope that from now on they will get better with 
every game.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the 200^th one-day international match between Afghanistan and Canada in the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday, Bukhatir said the completion of 200 ODIs was a special occasion. “It’s a great occasion that we have managed to have 200 matches on this ground. It’s been a long time since we started it and it’s a crowning glory of my ambition to push forward the UAE and Sharjah. It’s a special occasion.”

Noting that it was a very significant milestone, he said: “We started slowly and gradually moved into the world of cricket in a big way taking huge strides and finally we are topping the world. Being the number one ground in the world in terms of maximum number of matches played, it’s a big achievement. We hope to continue growing, adding to that number. Let others try to catch up with us.”

When he was asked about his favourite memories of the events on the ground over the years, Bukhatir said there were many but it was tough to pick one in particular.

“There are many memories. In 200 matches, you forget the old ones and the new ones keep coming. Most of the time you have fantastic memories which you cant forget. It’s a life time experience and really fantastic.”

About the future of the Sharjah stadium, which has hosted some of the memorable matches in the past two decades, Bukhatir said: “People always miss the past and look forward to the future. We have a great future for cricket in the UAE and I’m hopeful that we will probably see the good times in the future.

“This stadium has been ignored because of the traffic problems. But the bridges have all been constructed. We will probably play more international matches now. But the domestic cricket has been always been played here. More matches are played here than any other ground in the UAE. The traffic problem and the logistics have been sorted out so we plan to have more international matches in the future.”

He said that he did not see the other top class venues in Dubai and Abu Dhabi as Sharjah’s competitors but believed that they should be presented as a unit. “We won’t look at them as competition, but they complement one another. With the three, I think we are now well placed to have any big tournament within the UAE. Hopefully that will happen in the future. We grow gradually and hope that some day we will host big tournaments like the World Twenty20 or even the ODI WC. We surely will work on that.”

jaiprasad@khaleejtimes.com