Sharjah still on no-go list for Team India

Indian players. Pic/AP, PTI

Indian cricket fans in Sharjah will have to travel to Dubai if they want to see their team in action during the upcoming T20 World Cup. The Men in Blue have not played an official cricket match at the venue since 2000, after the Indian government on April 2, 2001 barred the team from playing international cricket at off-shore venues like Sharjah, Singapore and Toronto in the wake of match fixing episode, which rocked the cricket world back then.

Despite the BCCI scheduling 10 IPL matches this time, including two play-offs in Sharjah, the ICC with the hosts BCCI have thought it prudent not to use this stadium for India's matches and have preferred the modern Dubai stadium, which will be easily accessible to the fans in the twin cities of Dubai and Sharjah.

Ever since 2001, after the match fixing episode reared its ugly head and the subsequent Indian government ban on playing in Sharjah, the venue lost its appeal as it was linked to the international betting syndicate and for almost decade and a half, India refused to travel to the UAE to play cricket and it was only after new stadiums cropped up in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, did India venture into the Gulf country, first with the IPL in 2014 due to general election back home, and again when the Asia Cup was played in 2018, which India won under the leadership of Rohit Sharma. Even then, the team played all their matches in Dubai.

Subsequently, the whole of 2020 IPL was played in the UAE in October by COVID-19 pandemic back home, and this year, the second leg of the IPL is being completed now after it was disrupted in April, due to the second pandemic wave. The Sharjah stadium was the first cricket venue to come up in the Gulf and it even holds the Guinness Book of World Record for hosting the most number of ODI games at a single venue.