India-Pakistan T20 World Cup clash rekindles rivalry in UAE

TIL Desk Sports/ India and Pakistan are set to play again in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a region that has hosted eye-ball grabbing, crazily oscillating matches in the 1980s and 1990s. The two teams face off in the T20 World Cup in October-November after the International Cricket Council (ICC) put them in the same group on Friday.

Since year 2000, when India last played Pakistan in Sharjah, the two have faced off in the UAE only four times — twice in Abu Dhabi in 2006 and twice in Dubai in 2018 during the Asia Cup. They were all ODI matches with the 2018 games being part of Asia Cup, organised by Asian Cricket Council.

The World Cup will be the first time they will play T20 format against each other on the UAE soil though it is yet to be decided which of the three venues will host the match. It will also be the first T20 match between the two countries in five years, the previous one being during the 2016 World Cup in Kolkata.

While India hasn’t been keen to play there, the Covid-19 situation – or monsoon, as described by the Indian board – has forced the World Cup, hosted by India, to be shifted there. Former cricketers, who have played in Sharjah, say that though the teams are not as evenly matched as they were, the match will still draw crowds.