Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah

Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium was established in 1984. The rapidity with which the stadium acquired popularity and subsequently- one-day matches has astounded many. In a short span of 19 years i.e. till 2003, Sharjah Cricket Association Ground had hosted as many as 198 ODIs. The limited over matches in Sharjah Cricket Association Ground were always a part of a tournament involving not less than three teams. Most of the tournaments in Sharjah Cricket Association Ground organized under The Cricketers Benefit Fund Series, which aims at providing a part of the tournament purse to the retired cricketers from India and Pakistan. Sharjah Cricket Association Ground is one of those rare grounds where a test match has been hosted without the participation of the home team. In the wake of 11 September, Pakistan became the hotbed of internal turmoil, thus its cricket team had choose Sharjah Cricket Association ground for its test series against West Indies and later Australia. Sharjah Cricket Association Ground has a seating capacity of 27,000. Of late, hardly and any cricket of consequence has been played in this ground; the newly opened Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi has appropriated the popularity that Sharjah Cricket Association Ground used to enjoy. It holds a world record of being the first stadium to have hosted 200 ODIs after the match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in November 2011.