Dubai International Cricket Stadium


The Dubai International Stadium, formerly known as the Dubai Sports City Cricket Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is mainly used for cricket and is one of three stadiums in the country, the other two being Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium and Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. It has a capacity of 25,000 spectators, but is expandable to 30,000 spectators. It is a part of the Dubai Sports City in Dubai. The architect of this project was the Canadian architect, Awsam Matloob.

Stadium History

The first ODI cricket match played here was between Australia and Pakistan on April 22, 2009; it was won by Pakistan. The stadium's first player to take a five-wicket haul was Shahid Afridi with 6/38, which was his career best figures at the time. The top score at this stadium is 302* is held by Azhar Ali against West Indies in 2016.
The stadium hosted its first Test match when Pakistan played South Africa on 12–16 November 2010; the match resulted in a draw.
The November 2010 ODI series between Pakistan and South Africa ended with a 3-2 series win for South Africa. South Africa sealed the series with a 57 run win against Pakistan.
Pakistan held a series against New Zealand and one Twenty20 International against England. This followed with a five-match ODI series of which three matches were played at this stadium. The second match in the stadium was also the last match by Australian international all-rounder Andrew Symonds.
In 2012 Pakistan met England in the first test at Dubai. Pakistan won it easily, by 10 wickets. Saeed Ajmal was the Man-of-the-Match, after his outstanding 10 wicket haul.
In 2012 in mid-August Pakistan played three T20s against Australia, which was a grand success, just before the ICC World T20, including a super over in the final match, which Pakistan won.
In 2014, The 2014 Indian Premier League tournament was held in the stadium along with Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium and Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium. After that, the tournament shifted back to homeland India.
In September 2019, it was named as one of the venues to host cricket matches for the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament.

Lighting system

The Dubai International Stadium is lit by a special system of floodlights named "Ring of Fire". The 350 floodlights are fixed around the circumference of its round roof, thereby minimizing the shadows of objects in the ground and having no light towers.

Events hosted