Almost a month after the arch-rivals, Pakistan-India played an ICC T20World Cup match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, the CricketCouncil Chairman of Dubai, Abdul Rahman Falaknaz has offered to hostPakistan-India bilateral cricket series.
As per the local media, Falaknaz stated that “The best thing would be toget India-Pakistan matches here. When Sharjah used to host India andPakistan all those years ago, it was like a war. But it was a good war, itwas a sporting war and it was fantastic”
Owing to political tensions, Pakistan and India haven’t played bilateralcricket series since 2013, when the Green Shirts visited India to playthree T20s and two One Day Internationals.
“I remember [Bollywood actor] Raj Kapoor came once with his family. Duringthe awards night, he took the mic and said, ‘How wonderful it is to havethese India-Pakistan battles in Sharjah. Cricket brings people together,cricket has brought us together and let us remain this way,’” recalled theDCC chief.
“So this is what we would like to do. If we can convince India to come andplay here against Pakistan once a year or twice a year, it would befantastic.”
It is to note that the T20 World Cup was staged across three venues —Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi — in the UAE while some matches of thepreliminary round matches were played in Oman.
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The DCC chief went on to express willingness to host more Indian PremierLeague (IPL) matches in future by stating that “In 2014, when they shiftedthe IPL to the UAE due to elections, we gave them a warm reception. It alldepends on the BCCI to decide what they want to do”
He went on to add that “We are very friendly with them,” he said, addingthat the BCCI had seen “our potential in 2014 and more this year. In 2014,they played 20 matches. Out of the 20 matches, 19 were fully sold”.
“So, I would invite BCCI to come and hold their IPL matches. Even if it ispart of IPL to start here and finish in India or to start in India andfinish in Dubai,” he concluded.