Dubai bling: UAE's rise as host of major ICC events

WILL UAE REMAIN STEPNEY VENUE?

- GAUTAM BHATTACHARYYA

CUTTACK: The last five years have seen the UAE, and Dubai in particular, stepping in as an alternative venue for major cricketing events for a variety of reasons – be it the pandemic to political upheavals. While the Dubai International Cricket Stadium is ready to play the co-hosts of the ICC Champions Trophy, being revived after eight years, there is a reasonable demand among the game's fraternity there for a greater recognition of the associate country's role.

It often passes under the radar as to how many times the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) has answered to call of stepping in as hosts of major events in the new millennium – keeping aside the fact that Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi had acted as the home venues for Pakistan for nearly a decade when international teams refused to tour the country after the 2009 terror attack.