As the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that Pakistan needed to find a new base to host matches in the aftermath of Tuesday’s terror attack, it has ironically thrown the spotlight on a set of venues in the Middle-East that were once famous cricketing destinations but are now considered dead and buried.

Pakistan will be hosting Australia this year in Abu Dhabi, where the England team were based for training sessions ahead of the India Test series after the Mumbai attacks in November. The ICC headquarters are in Dubai, a city which boasts of one of the best stadiums in the world that is still awaiting an international debut. And then, there’s the Sharjah stadium that hosted a record number of ODIs in 1980s and 1990s before being blacklisted following the match-fixing row.

With more and more teams expressing reservations about visiting Pakistan, and even Sri Lanka, the re-emergence of the Middle-East as a cricket destination looks likely because of security, facilities, spectator interest and revenue-generation opportunities.

“We have had discussions with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to host the Pakistan-Australia ODIs and it’s too premature at this point of time to discuss possibilities of further matches,” Dilawar Mani, president of Abu Dhabi Cricket Council told The Indian Express.

“We don’t want to look like being happy beneficiaries of someone’s tragedy. The PCB has also been looking to hold matches in Kuala Lumpur and even England, but if Pakistan wants to adopt Abu Dhabi for further matches, we’d happily help them. Obviously we want cricket to come here and that’s why we’ve built stadiums in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.” Currently, the BCCI has a policy not to play at the three off-shore venues.

... contd.