Asia Cup 2022: Closer look into multi-purpose Dubai International Stadium
Asia Cup 2022, IND vs PAK: A closer look into the mighty Dubai International Stadium, The venue for India vs Pakistan
IND vs PAK: As the sun sets on the Dubai International Stadium today and the ring of fire lights up, it will go time for both India and Pakistan, a clash that has been awaited for a long time now. The men in blue take on the men in green in the very first game of Group A. The last time both these teams met, the result did not go in India's favor. In the 2021 edition of the T20I World Cup, Pakistan defeated India by a margin of 10 wickets. Surprisingly, the match was played at the Dubai International Cricket and this is the same venue where India will take on Pakistan again in the Asia Cup. India will still have the scars of the T20 World Cup fresh in their minds and will look to return the favor when they take on Pakistan on August 28, 2022.
The mighty Dubai International Stadium was formerly known as the Dubai Sports City Cricket Stadium and is one of the three grounds with the other two being Sharjah Cricket Stadium and Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium. Situated at Emirates Road End, Dubai Sports City End the stadium has a seating capacity of 25000 spectators which can go up to 30,000 at times. The chief architect of this venue was Canadian architect, Awsam Matloob. Over a few years, this stadium has garnered a lot of eyeballs and has the credit of hosting the Indian Premier League in the years 2014, 2020, and 2021. The Dubai International Stadium also hosted a few games in the T20I World Cup 2021.
Tony Hemming, the chief curator of the Dubai International Stadium has tried to keep the pitch evenly balanced. The pitch which plays quite sluggishly at the start of the first innings gradually improves with time and has assistance for both the fast bowlers and spinners. Toss plays an important part at this particular venue with des settling in the later half of the game. High matching gets extremely different here as the 'ring of fire", a circle of 350 floodlights at times makes it impossible to spot the ball.
Australia and Pakistan played for the first time at this venue in 2009, a match which Pakistan won. Pakistan's Shahid Afridi was the first player to take a five-wicket haul (6/38) at this venue and Azhar Ali with 302* against West Indies in 2016, holds the record for scoring the highest individual score on this venue. Pakistan faced South Africa in the first Test in 2010 that was played at this venue. South Africa later sealed the series with 57 run win against Pakistan.
As India takes on Pakistan in the opening game of Group A, it will be extremely interesting to see how both these teams fare against each other and if this time, India can turn the result around in their favor.