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Until late Tuesday evening, Mazhar Khan, General Manager of Sharjah Cricket Stadium, was still on the ground, brimming with excitement on the eve of another landmark moment.
When Afghanistan’s fearless bunch of cricketers take on South Africa in the first game of the three-match ODI series on Wednesday (4 pm UAE Time), this grand old stadium will become the first to host 250 one-day international matches.
Having already made history by becoming the only cricket stadium in the world to stage 200 ODIs, the birthplace of international cricket in the Middle East is about to celebrate its record-extending milestone on Wednesday.
Naturally, Khan and all the people associated with the ground were as excited as the proud parents of a bride eagerly waiting for their daughter’s big day.
But there was no proper cricket ground when Khan first played club cricket in the UAE.
“This was in 1975 when I played in the Bukhatir League. We had a tiny ground in Al Khan where we played on a cemented wicket,” the Indian expat recalled.
Bukhatir League is the UAE’s premier domestic cricket tournament which was launched in 1974 by Abdul Rahman Bukhatir.
The Emirati businessman fell in love with cricket while studying at a Karachi school.
After his return, Bukhatir dreamt of bringing cricket to his football-obsessed country. That dream soon became an obsession as he built an eco-system for domestic cricket before inviting the Who’s Who of international cricket for a high-profile exhibition match between Gavaskar XI and Miandad XI in 1981.
Thousands of Indian and Pakistani expats turned up to watch the exhibition game as the two teams produced a memorable battle at a temporary stadium.
Spurred on by that success, Bukhatir built the Sharjah Cricket Stadium which sparked a cricketing revolution in the desert, hosting international tournaments year after year, and producing some of the greatest matches the game has ever seen.
On Wednesday, the landmark match will be devoid of global superstars as Rashid Khan’s talented Afghanistan team face a depleted South African side.
But everyone at the stadium is proud of the number 250, which has now put daylight between Sharjah and Harare Sports Club, Sydney Cricket Ground and the Melbourne Cricket Ground, stadiums that have hosted the most ODIs in history.
“We had already been acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records when we hosted the 200th match. Now we are about 65 matches ahead of Harare (182), Sydney (161) and Melbourne (151),” said Khan.
“This is something Sharjah should always be proud of. As cricket fans in the UAE, we will always be grateful to Mr Bukhatir and his family for what they have done for cricket in this country.”
The cricketing story of war-torn Afghanistan, whose meteoric rise has warmed every cricket lover’s heart, would probably have been very different if Bukhatir had not offered them a helping hand.
“It’s beautiful that Afghanistan will be part of our 250th ODI match. It’s after all their first adopted home ground,” Khan said.
“You know they still can’t play international cricket in their country because of the political situation. It was back in 2010 that Mr Bukhatir helped them by offering them the ground for their home matches."
The Afghans had no proper cricket infrastructure back then and their team was languishing in Division 5 of ICC World Cricket League.
Last year, they came close to reaching the ODI World Cup semifinals and this year, they produced another giant-killing run in the T20 World Cup, making a historic semifinal appearance.
"The Afghans always had passion for the game, but in 2010 they were struggling to find support. That's when Mr Bukhatir decided to help them and now everyone can see how much they have improved,” Khan said.
Bukhatir, Khan said, was ahead of his time.
“He was a visionary. After he built the stadium (in 1982), he even got the film stars from India and Pakistan to attend the matches, adding a touch of glamour to it,” he said.
“Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, all the Bollywood legends attended our matches. They were all invited by Mr Bukhatir. He put the UAE on the world sporting map back in the 1980s, and today we are reaping the fruits of what he invested.”
The glory days of Sharjah cricket left such a mark on the sporting landscape of the Indian subcontinent that tourists of a certain vintage now keep this stadium on top of their bucket list.
“We get a lot of tourist buses at the stadium. Mr Khalaf Bukhatir (CEO of Sharjah Cricket Stadium and son of Abdul Rahman Bukhatir) has allowed free entry for these tourists,” Khan said.
“They come here, get inside the empty stadium and take pictures. They are also allowed to visit the VIP area in which we have a small museum with lifesize portraits of all the legends who played on this ground.
“So, people come and admire those portraits and take pictures. And it makes us very happy that this stadium still means so much to so many people.”
The stadium also holds a special place in a very special cricketer’s heart.
“Early this year, I was talking to Wasim Akram, he was telling me that he had taken more than 100 (122) ODI wickets in Sharjah alone. He felt that it’s a record,” Khan said.
“He has played the most number of ODIs — 77 — in Sharjah during his career. He says he hasn’t played that many matches in any other venue.
"You know Wasim, Waqar Younis, Imran Khan, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar, you can ask all these legends, they all loved playing here.”
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