Howzaat Episode 1: History of Sharjah Stadium

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00:00We are at the historic Sharjah Cricket Stadium, which holds the world record for hosting the

00:15maximum number of one-day internationals in the world.

00:21Walking in here is a nostalgic memory for everyone, a great venue which boosted one-day

00:30international cricket around the world.

00:34The seeds of international cricket was sowed in this ground and it went on to become the

00:44stadium which has hosted the maximum number of one-day internationals in the world.

00:52Abdul Rahman Bukhadir, his vision to bring one-day internationals to this desert when

01:01people doubted how cricket can be played in UAE.

01:07We proved everyone wrong by producing great matches and the memories from this stadium

01:16lives in the mind of everybody.

01:20It has been a very pleasant journey for Sharjah Cricket Stadium founder Mr. Abdul Rahman Bukhadir

01:28and the management of Sharjah Cricket Stadium to see the stadium today break all records

01:35and get the Guinness World Record.

01:41I think today we have reached 236 one-day internationals, which itself is an impressive

01:52number.

01:53We've seen the ground through the years hosting teams like India, Pakistan, Australia, England,

02:04Zimbabwe, all the member countries, playing on this beautiful pitch and giving so much

02:15entertainment to the public that has been also very passionate to come to the ground

02:21and to watch every single ball on this ground.

02:25One of the most exciting moments of this stadium is the last ball six by Javed Miandar.

02:34He hit it from there straight to that area in 1986 Australasia Cup final to beat India

02:46on April 22, 1988.

02:51Sachin Tendulkar played one of the greatest knocks from the middle.

03:01He played his knock when there was a sandstorm and the knock is known as the sandstorm knock

03:11and against Australia.

03:14It was an intense battle between two of the greats.

03:20One Shane Warne bowling to Tendulkar and Tendulkar hitting him for sixes lives in the memory

03:29of everyone.

03:31Shane Warne describes that knock as a nightmare which gives him nightmares and for all the

03:40cricket fans, it's a beautiful memory, a dream which people would love to recall again and

03:50again.

03:51Pakistan's legendary left-arm pacer produced two hat-tricks from this wicket.

03:59On a wicket which has reputation of batsman's paradise, he produced spectacular moving deliveries

04:09to destroy West Indies in 1989 and the next year he produced another hat-trick against

04:18Australia.

04:20Those two left-arm spells is considered one of the finest spells by a left-hander and

04:30even now people remember that those great spells.

04:36Wasim Akram earned the reputation as the greatest of left-arm pacers in the world.

04:42The best moment I have witnessed on this ground was the sandstorm inning from Sachin

04:49Tendulkar versus Australia.

04:52That was one beautiful inning and there was so much joy in the ground when that match

05:01he made sure that India qualifies to the final and it was an amazing batting from Sachin

05:11Tendulkar.

05:14Another one was from Javed Myandad when he hit that last ball six, was also something

05:18to remember and a lot of the spectators who were in the ground still remember that last

05:25ball six.

05:28There are also some of them, Wasim Akram's hat-trick and Brian Lara's innings, so there

05:36are a lot actually when you see 236 one-day internationals on this ground.

05:41There's a lot of beautiful moments and that's why it's called Thrilling Sharjah.

05:46In 1997 this venue got floodlights and night cricket began to be held here and that generated

05:58more people to come here because people could come after their working time and enjoy cricket.

06:05These are the VIP boxes where film stars, Bollywood stars Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Mansoor

06:17Ali Khan Pataudi with Shyamala Tagore and Lata Mankeshkar, all of them used to sit

06:25here and watch the action.

06:29That was the first time that Bollywood and cricket got connected like IPL today.

06:40Behind me is the commendator's box from where the great commendator Henry Blofel used to

06:52describe about earrings and along with Tony Grake and Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was also

07:03one of the commendators.

07:06Beautiful lines from these cricket commendators became part of cricket terminology over the

07:19years.

07:21The people used to sit near the boundary ropes at those times because at that time the capacity

07:31was 27,000 and those times it was all benches but today the capacity has reduced to 16,000

07:43because they have introduced bucket seats but still over 20,000 people still come and watch the action.

07:53When Mr. Bukhati introduced cricket here, most of those people, the majority of Indians

08:01are from the south and a lot of Pakistanis from the north side of Pakistan, those people

08:08were involved or watched cricket for the first time ever in Sharjah when they started.

08:15And similarly the locals, mostly locals don't know about this cricket.

08:20There was an interesting headline in one of the leading Arabic newspaper here when the

08:28first match was played between Mianadar XI and Gavaskar XI.

08:35In those days there was a family, the Askar family is a very renowned family of Sharjah.

08:46In Arabic, the alphabets are quite different than you can use in Urdu or in English.

08:58So the headline was there, Mianadar, in English it was like Mianadar versus Jawad Askar XI.

09:07The Askar was the surname of the family. Instead of Gavaskar, they were the Jawad Askar.

09:14Then you know, when initially police starts coming to control the crowd and all, they were really surprised to see

09:24the way people were coming and the crowd and all.

09:31The ball is running on one side and two guys are running in between.

09:36What is this? The ball is going the other side and two guys are running in between. What is this?

09:45There are so many great matches played here. Of course Mianadar XI was a turning point in the strategy

09:53of batting technique in one day cricket. But you know, like Tandulkar's inning against Australia,

10:05when the sandstorm came. And in a match where Basit Ali scored 62 balls, 100 against West Indies,

10:16such a fine balling attack, Cudley Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and they were there.

10:22And at that time Pakistan scored 270 odd runs and West Indies chased down that Brian Lara scored 100.

10:35I mean those were the matches and one match between Sri Lanka and West Indies,

10:41when West Indies scored 333 and Sri Lanka got out for 2 to 9.

10:48In those days there was no third umpire or review system and all.

10:54You know that it was on the east stand side when, forget the name of the player anyway,

11:02left hand batman, he hit the shot and he caught on the boundary.

11:07You know people were sitting behind, they were shouting he takes the boundary line.

11:12I mean there was no proof of that and for me that was the really most exciting game.

11:19People used to sit on the boundary line.

11:22That's right, yeah. Those were the days, yeah.

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