When Gavaskar became Javad Askar

Sharjah: India's legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar was among the top international cricketers to play in the ‘first' match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in 1981. The organisers staged a Gavaskar XI versus Miandad XI double-wicket match, but a leading Arabic newspaper wrote Gavaskar's name as ‘Javad Askar.'

"In Arabic language, there is no word starting with Gav and hence, they wrote his name as Javad Askar. In Sharjah there was a famous family named Askar and they linked Gavaskar's name with this family," reminisced Ali Anwar Jafri, joint secretary of the Sharjah Cricket Council, who has been part of Sharjah Cricket Stadium from its inception in 1980.

"The stadium did not have a pavilion till 1982 and also the wicket was made of cement with astro-turf on top," said Jafri, who had played alongside Pakistan cricket team's present coach and chief selector Mohsin Khan. "Though I was essentially a leg spinner, I opened the innings for Karachi University for the team to accommodate another spinner. Khan used to bat one-down and I got to bat with him," recalled Jafri, who got selected to play for the Pakistan's Combined Universities team.

First class cricket

If Jafri would have played for the Combined Universities, then he would have played first class cricket, but he could not resist the call from Abdul Rehman Bukhatir who had picked him to play for Sharjah Cricket Club.

"Bukhatir used to play then and he was very keen to have a strong Sharjah Cricket Club team. I left Pakistan three days before the Combined University match. Sharjah Cricket Club then went on to win the Bukhatir League 14 times," said Jafri, who later captained the club which owns the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.