India's desert woes: Revisiting shadowy Sharjah

The ghost of Sharjah

April 18, 1986, is a day cricket fans across the world are unlikely to ever forget. The magnitude of the events which transpired on that day changed the way the game was perceived. What was hitherto considered as an impossible or losing situation would no longer be thought of as such. Cricketers and cricket lovers discovered that a match could be won, no matter how difficult the scenario.

Much to the dismay of Indian cricket fans, however, the events of that day also set a trend which was to continue for over a decade.

The event was Javed Miandad's famous last ball six off the bowling of Chetan Sharma. The trend was such that Pakistan dominated India in one-day internationals, primarily in Sharjah, and did so in ominous fashion. This continued until the Indian government banned the venue and directed the cricket board not to send a team for the 2001 Sharjah Cup.

A lot has been written about Pakistan's inability to get past India in ICC tournaments. For over a decade, however, India found it tough getting past their traditional rivals in the shorter version of the game but managing to beat Pakistan in all the World Cup encounters.

Some called it a "jinx", while others called it the "ghost of Sharjah".

The game in Sharjah came under the needle of suspicion with accusations of corruption surfacing time and again but analysts, to this day, have remained confounded as to the veracity of those claims.

Pakistan reigned supreme, on most occasions, in Sharjah during this period of around fourteen years. Pakistan were, no doubt, a formidable outfit with a world class bowling attack comprising Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, and Abdul Qadir. The batting was no less brilliant with the likes of Javed Miandad, Saleem Malik, Saeed Anwar, and Inzamam-Ul-Haq.

So, did the Pakistani dominance in Sharjah emanate from inherent talent in the squad, boosted by massive support in the stands or was there something shadowy beneath the surface?

Was the ghost of Sharjah for real?

#5 Cricket in the desert

In the early 1980s, Abdul Rehman Bukhatir, a Pakistan-born UAE businessman who had diverse interests in real estate, trading, hotels, and banks spotted a new and lucrative opportunity. The UAE was home to a large expatriate population from India and Pakistan who craved for all things Indian (and Pakistani). Both Indians and Pakistanis loved their cricket. So, could the teams not play each other in the UAE?

The Sharjah Cricket Stadium was to become the home of cricket in the Gulf and over the next decade and a half whetted the appetites of cricket lovers in the subcontinent and in the Emirates.

It all started with the Rothman's Asia Cup in 1984 with India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka playing in a triangular round-robin competition with India emerging victorious.

In 1985, Sharjah played host to the Rothman's Four-Nations Cup.

It was the first match of the tournament which is the talking point for many cricketing fans in the subcontinent to this day. Imran Khan was in peak form and picked up 6 wickets to bundle India out for 125. Pakistan came out to bat needing 2.5 runs an over to win but inexplicably collapsed to be all out for 87 with Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, and Sivaramakrishnan doing the damage. They went on to beat Australia in the finals to win the tournament.

India were the kings of cricket in the desert, much to the jubilation of their fans, with two wins in a row in Sharjah.

In 1986, Sharjah hosted the Austral-Asia cup featuring India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zeland, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. India faced Pakistan in the finals in front of a packed stadium.

From here on, however, there would be a dramatic change in the tale which would continue for a very long time to come.

#4 Javed Miandad and the start of the endless jinx

Batting first in the finals, Srikkanth and Gavaskar gave India a dream start, scoring 75 and 92 respectively. Dilip Vengsarkar joined in with a half-century and India scored 245 in 50 overs which in those days was considered a good enough total. Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals in their chase but one man hung on. Javed Miandad paced his innings perfectly keeping the scoreboard moving at a steady rate.

Indian captain Kapil Dev, who was the mainstay of the attack always reserved the last over for himself. On this occasion, however, he had made a serious miscalculation. He had brought himself on an over earlier than he should have which meant that the penultimate over of the Pakistan innings was the last in his quota of ten.

A relatively inexperienced Chetan Sharma would then have to bowl the last over. In a wild last over with the batsmen swinging at everything and Mohammad Azharuddin missing a run-out, it came down the last ball with Pakistan needing four to win.

Chetan Sharma aimed to bowl a yorker-length delivery to the wily Javed Miandad who stood well forward anticipating the same. Miandad dispatched the ball for a six. Pakistani supporters were ecstatic while the Indians were shell-shocked.

A lot was said and written about why Chetan Sharma had to bowl the last over and how the great Miandad achieved the impossible.

But, it also started a strange jinx. India could never beat Pakistan in a Sharjah final ever again and found scant success in the group matches too.

The statistics need to be seen to be believed and are fascinating, to say the least.

#3 Ominous statistics

December 5, 1986: Champions Trophy: Pakistan beat India by 3 wickets in a low-scoring encounter.

April 10, 1987: Sharjah Cup: Pakistan beat India by 8 wickets with half-centuries from Rameez Raja, Saleem Malik, and Javed Miandad.

October 19, 1988: Sharjah Champions Trophy: Pakistan beat India by 34 runs with a century from Saleem Malik.

October 15, 1989: Champions Trophy. Pakistan beat India by 6 wickets. Sidhu scored a century for India and Saleem Malik scored an unbeaten 68 to power Pakistan home yet again.

April 27, 1990: Austral-Asia Cup: Pakistan beat India by 26 runs.Waqar Younis picked up four wickets for Pakistan and Saleem Yousuf scored 62.

October 18, 1991: Wills Trophy: India beat Pakistan in a group match of the Wills Trophy by 60 runs thanks to a 72 from Sanjay Manjrekar.

Was the jinx finally broken? Not really, and not for long.

October 25, 1991: Wills Trophy (Final) : Pakistan beat India by 72 runs.

Zahid Fazal scored 98 and Saleem Malik scored 87. Pakistan pacer Aaquib Javed claimed a hat-trick taking advantage of the desert wind. He first claimed the wicket of Ravi Shastri who was on 15, followed by Azharuddin and Tendulkar both of whom returned to the pavilion without scoring. All three batsmen were adjudged out leg-before much to the anger of Indian fans.

After a three-year hiatus, India returned to Sharjah in 1994. The trend did not change much.

April 15, 1994: Pepsi Austral-Asia Cup. Pakistan beat India by 6 wickets in this group encounter. Tendulkar scored 73 for India while Saeed Anwar scored 71 for Pakistan.

April 22, 1994: Pepsi Austral-Asia Cup (Final): Pakistan beat India by 39 runs with a half-century from Aamir Sohail.

April 7, 1995: Singer Asia Cup: Pakistan beat India by 97 runs. Thankfully, however, India won the Cup beating Sri Lanka in the finals.

April 12, 1996: Pepsi Sharjah Cup: Pakistan beat India by 38 runs with a century from Aamir Sohail.

December 14, 1997: Akai-Singer Champions Trophy: Pakistan beat India by 4 wickets with a century from Saeed Anwar.

April 8, 1999: Coca-Cola Cup: Pakistan beat India by 116 runs with a century from Inzamam-Ul-Haq.

March 23, 2000: Coca-Cola Cup: India beat Pakistan by 5 wickets.

March 26: 2000: Coca-Cola Cup: Pakistan beat India by 98 runs. Inzamam-Ul-Haq scoring a century yet again.

India never played in Sharjah again.

Pakistan beat India 13 times in Sharjah out of a total of 15 encounters between the two since the fateful final in April 1986. India did win twice (in the Wills Trophy in 1991 and the Coca-Cola Cup in 2000) but were subsequently beaten both times by Pakistan in the same two tournaments.

To get a clearer picture of Pakistan's domination, let us also take a look at the statistics outside of Sharjah.

#2 The numbers outside of Sharjah

In 1987, Pakistan toured India and played 6 one-day Internationals winning the series 5-1.

In 1998-90, India toured Pakistan with Krishnamachari Srikkanth as captain, losing the ODI series 0-2. This was the debut series for Sachin Tendulkar and Waqar Younis.

India toured Pakistan in 1997. Pakistan won the ODI series 2-1.

On June 3, 2000, Pakistan beat India in the Asia Cup ODI in Dhaka.

In the Carlton and United triangular series in Australia in the year 2000, Pakistan beat India thrice in four encounters.

Pakistan, it seemed, had the edge outside Sharjah as well from 1986 to 2000.

Cricket is indeed a strange game with the ICC World Cup statistics during the same period painting a totally different picture.

World Cup stats during the same period

In the 1992 World Cup, India beat eventual winners Pakistan in a group match.

In the 1996 World Cup, India beat Pakistan in Bangalore.

In the 1999 World Cup, India beat Pakistan at Manchester by 47 runs.

The statistics are intriguing, leaving the keenest of observers confounded and not leading to any definitive conclusion.

So, were the matches in Sharjah fixed? Or were they genuine results of clean cricket?

#1 Murky, but inconclusive

In 2001, the BBC cricket correspondent, Jonathan Agnew said, "I would swear under oath that two of the dozen or so matches I have witnessed on that desert ground over the years were fixed: both of them by Pakistan."

Dr Narottam Puri, former Doordarshan commentator can be heard on tape clearly saying that he was asked to bet, by a friend, while in Sharjah. He refused but the friend told him he had inside information about what was to happen the next day during a West Indies vs Pakistan encounter. Flabbergasted indeed, was Dr Puri when he discovered that the statements were true.

These sensational revelations, along with those from Aamir Sohail (among others) have cast a shadow of doubt on how authentic the matches in the desert stadium were and if cricket fans were being fooled into believing that the matches which they emoted over were actually stage-managed behind the scenes.

An inquiry into allegations levelled against Sharjah cricket conducted by Clive Lloyd's panel concluded that due to insufficient evidence the inquiry had to be shut down and that the panel failed to substantiate the claims that came out of the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation's report.

For cricket fans in India, Pakistan, in the Gulf and around the world who experienced agony and ecstasy watching these matches, one hopes that the truth may be one day be told.

There is (or was) a graveyard outside the Sharjah cricket stadium, writes Sanjay Manjrekar in his book Imperfect. In the hearts and minds of Indian cricket fans, the ghost of Sharjah still looms large, lurking in the shadows of an empty Sharjah cricket stadium.