UAE and Pakistan in talks to co-host cricket's biggest events

After success of the Asia Cup, ECB confirms discussions under way to bid for more tournaments

Yuzvendra Chahal, centre, of India celebrates after taking the wicket of Imrul Kayes in the Asia Cup final in Dubai in 2018. India beat Bangladesh in the final, and the event was a huge success. Pawan Singh / The National

Liton Das of Bangladesh on his way to a century. Pawan Singh / The National

Kedar Jadhav of India bowls. Pawan Singh / The National

Jadhav celebrates after taking the wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim. Pawan Singh / The National

Jasprit Bumrah of India bowls. Pawan Singh / The National

Das plays a shot. Pawan Singh / The National

Das, left, Bangladesh celebrates after scoring his half century. Pawan Singh / The National

Mehidy Hasan of Bangladesh plays a shot. Pawan Singh / The National

Hasan and Das run between the wickets. Pawan Singh / The National

Hasan takes a run. Pawan Singh / The National

The success of the Asia Cup in 2018, including the fixture between India and Pakistan, is proof UAE would be a worthy host for cricket’s biggest tournaments.

That is the view of Mubashir Usmani, the Emirates Cricket Board’s general secretary, who has confirmed they are in talks with Pakistan about jointly bidding for ICC events.

Cricket’s governing body has invited countries to make their interest known in bidding for 20 global events that will be held between 2023 and 2031.

The process has been delayed by the coronavirus situation, but Usmani has confirmed UAE and Pakistan are considering bids that could see them co-hosting events.

Ehsan Mani, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, said this week that they plan to bid for “five to six major events”, with a view to winning two.

Mani, who was the ICC president when the governing body relocated from London to Dubai in 2005 has held initial talks with Usmani over the idea.

Usmani said the ECB are also considering lone bids for some events, but that the idea of teaming up with Pakistan for major tournaments is an appealing one.

“We are in the initial stage, which is the expression of interest to the ICC for events after 2023,” Usmani said.

“There are certain tournaments UAE has expressed an interest in hosting on its own, and on other tournaments we have expressed doing it jointly with Pakistan.”

UAE has hosted second-tier global competitions, such as the T20 World Cup Qualifier last year, and the Under 19 World Cup in 2014.

Indian Premier League and Pakistan Super League matches have also been played in the Emirates in recent years.

The biggest international tournament it has staged in the recent past was the Asia Cup two years ago.

That tournament included two fixtures between India and Pakistan, and Usmani believes the evidence of those games proves UAE is ready to stage cricket’s biggest fixtures.

“We have already done Asia Cup, and the biggest crowd puller is India-Pakistan,” Usmani said.

“I think it [the capacity] was sufficient for us to do that. Whether it is Asia Cup or ICC, the biggest match is always India-Pakistan because of the rivalry.

“That has proven that the capacity of the venues in UAE are enough for hosting such events.”

Pakistan has a long-standing affiliation with UAE cricket, dating back to the early 1980s when international games were first played in Sharjah.

As such, collaborating on staging major events should be a viable alternative for Pakistan if sides – chiefly India – were reluctant to tour there, as is currently the case.

In terms of major events, Pakistan had most recently been due to play a part in hosting the 2011 World Cup, along with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, only to lose their matches due to security reasons.

Mani said the idea of co-hosting with UAE was evidence the PCB had “thought out of the box to bid jointly with another country”, and reasoned it would make sense.

“There are a few events with 16 games and then there are events with 30-40 games, so depending on the scale, the workload can be divided between us,” Mani said in a PCB podcast.

The list of events open to tender includes the Cricket World Cup and the T20 version, while Usmani also suggested the Champions Trophy might also be revived.

“We have the infrastructure,” Usmani said.

“There are certain world events which can be done in the UAE, providing the requirements of the infrastructure.

“For instance, in a Champions Trophy, only six to eight team play in that and it requires not more than two to three stadiums.

“UAE is definitely considering itself to hold such ICC tournaments.”