Indian, South African teams arrive at Dubai

DUBAI, MARCH 20. The Indian and South African cricket squads arrived here on Monday afternoon to take part in the three-nation Coca Cola Cup cricket tournament along with Pakistan, beginning at Sharjah from Wednesday. The two teams were given a warm welcome at Dubai International airport when they landed here from Mumbai by an Emirates flight.

Both the Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly and his South African counterpart Hansie Cronje declined to speak to the press.``We will talk at the stadium after practice tomorrow'', the two captains told waiting reporters. The Indian coach Kapil Dev also did not wish to say anything, obviously because everyone appeared tired after Sunday's keenly-fought match between the two teams at Nagpur.

The two teams were driven straight from the airport to Holiday International Hotel where they will be staying. The Pakistani squad, led by wicket-keeper Moin Khan, is scheduled to arrive here on Tuesday.

India takes on South Africa in the opener on March 22 and the next day it meets arch-rival Pakistan in an encounter which is being keenly awaited by the large expatriate crowd from the two countries. All the matches will be day-night affair at the majestic 25,000-capacity Sharjah Cricket Ground with the final slated for March 31.

The winner will take home $ 50,000, runner-up $ 30,000 and the third team $ 20,000. Besides, there are several other individual prizes like Man-of-the-match ($1000), Man-of-the-match in the final ($ 1500), Man-of-the-series ($ 3500), Best bowler, Best fielder and fastest fifty ($ 1000), most boundaries in a match, most sixes by a batsman, top scorer in the championship and top wicket-taker ($1000) and the `Player of the tournament' who will be given a car.

Preparations are at full swing and the stadium is being given a facelift by the organisers, the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS). Two pitches are being prepared by the groundsmen for the seven matches, including six league encounters, to be played for the annual cricket carnival in the tiny Emirate.

The beneficiaries for the tournament are former seamer N.G. Nadkarni, current selection committee chairman C.G. Borde and former left-arm spinner Maninder Singh from India and Pakistani skipper Moin Khan and Saeed Anwar, who is out of the present squad because of injury. The CBFS will also make a contribution to the cricket development programme in South Africa.

Cricket has come a long way in the desert since its beginning 19 years ago in 1981 with a limited overs match between Gavaskar XI (India) and Miandad XI (Pakistan) on a concrete wicket, watched by a motley crowd of 5000 from makeshift scaffolding stands.

It took 13 years to bring in formal cricket and India won the inaugural Asia Cup in 1984, close on the heels of its World Cup victory in England the previous year. Again in 1985, the Indians won the Australasia Cup under Sunil Gavaskar's stewardship.

It is the India-Pakistan encounters that provide the toast to the large expatriate community from these two countries who constitute the bulk of the spectators. With both these teams lining up for the current championship, the cricket fever is catching up fast.

All incoming flights to Sharjah and Dubai from India and Pakistan are packed to capacity with passengers eager to make the best use of the trip by mixing cricket with shopping as both the tournament and the Dubai Shopping Festival will be on simultaneously till March 31.

- UNI

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Section  : Sport
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