Why is England not playing in Sharjah?

It has been with a sense of great joy, not unmixed with pride, that I have had the privilege of witnessing — albeit only on television — Sharjah becoming once again a venue of international cricket, including Test cricket.

Sharjah was already in the record books as the venue to have hosted the highest number of ODIs in the world and now with the re-introduction of cricket there, one hopes this is a record that will stand for a long time to come.

None of it would have been possible without Abdul Rahman Bukhatir's entrepreneurial acumen and Qasim Noorani's administrative ability and it was befitting that a stand be named to commemorate his work — this was just reward.

Conspicuous by its absence is the omission of any mention of my contribution to this desert enterprise. I believe I am right to consider it my life's work: wouldn't anyone who had spent 20 years towards the making and the success of a project?

I remember well the first match that we staged in Sharjah. We were to have an artificial wicket and scaffolding to hold spectators but then so many turned up — to our very pleasant surprise — that we did not have enough seats to accommodate them all.

The two teams playing in that inaugural game in 1981 were dubbed as Gavaskar XI and Miandad XI and the first two beneficiaries honoured by the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) which we set up were Hanif Mohammad and myself — not Hanif Mohammad and Sunil Gavaskar as erroneously mentioned by Bukhatir when he was interviewed by Rameez Raja during the Test match.

Sporting contributions

Hanif was one of Bukhatir's heroes and I guess I got the honour as the person who was making it happen — not that I claim for a moment to be in the same league as the great cricketer Hanif Mohammad.

It is quite bewildering to see the effort that has gone into erasing the historical stamps of Sharjah cricket. It is a known fact that in the arena of politics, influence is made to bear upon in changing facts in history books: but this to my mind has always represented insecurity.

The annals of sporting contributions need to be quite different and beyond the borrowing of styles from the political arena. But for those who insist on such methods it will be wise to be cautious about the making of martyrs!

Ironically, I have received innumerable calls and messages both from people I know and from strangers, as well as people I worked with, all congratulating me on the return of Sharjah to the international circuit and reliving with me the glorious days when Sharjah was the greatest cricketing ‘tamasha' on the planet with the good and the great, the beautiful and the famous from all over the subcontinent gracing it — making our CBFS tournaments so much more than just a cricket tournament.

At a stage in life when it is so much about memories, it was nice to know that so many people remembered it.

I have taken these conversations to be my golden handshake for my years of hard work — that such recognition did not come in kind or word is effectively of no consequence.

Extremely disappointed

I was, however, extremely disappointed to learn that in the upcoming Pakistan home series against England to be played in the UAE, although there are three Test matches and five ODIs scheduled, not one has been assigned to Sharjah.

This, of course, is a matter that concerns the Pakistani Cricket Board and it is disappointing that the PCB should have chosen to ignore Sharjah after all the support that the CBFS provided for innumerable Pakistan cricketers.

I would urge the UAE cricket authorities to take up the matter with the PCB and allocate one Test match to Sharjah which would be no more than rightful recognition of Sharjah's immense contributions to international cricket.

One hopes sincerely that international cricket returns to Pakistan very soon but if indeed it is the case that Pakistan has to continue to play its homes series in the UAE, I would strongly recommend to the PCB that Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah should be recognised as the venues for a three-Test series.

For all the honest and sincere efforts that the new chairman of the PCB may be making to get international cricket to return to Pakistan, success on this score may not be a matter entirely up to the PCB. Western cricketing nations and individual cricketers will make their decision on coming to Pakistan on the basis of their own assessment and not on the basis of anything that the PCB or even the Pakistan government may have to say on the subject.

It is, therefore, possible that Pakistan may be playing its home matches in the UAE for some time to come and if that is the case, then the PCB, in conjunction with the UAE, may have to pay more attention to the making of pitches to ensure they are result-oriented and, as all home sides do, make sure that they support the strengths of the home side.

Dead pitches

Dead pitches will only make for dead series and with Test cricket, especially in the subcontinent, battling to attract crowds, the nature of pitches will play a big part in the outcome of this battle.

As it is, it was hugely disappointing to see the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series being played in almost empty stadiums.

Test cricket deserves better than that; perhaps allowing free entry to Test grounds may solve part of the problem but people will need a better reason to come than simply the fact that it is free.

As part of the entertainment industry, international cricket must not forget that its first and foremost duty is to entertain.

The writer is a former Pakistan captain and former chief coordinator of the erstwhile CBFS in Sharjah.