There was a time when cricket, Sharjah and India were a heady mix for fans in the United Arab Emirates. From 1984, when it hosted the inaugural Asia Cup, to October 2001, when India last played at the venue in a four-nation tournament, Sharjah ruled the roost, with India-Pakistan clashes being the highlight almost every year. With a strong migrant workforce from the Indian sub-continent in the UAE, it was a win-win situation for cricket promoter Abdul Rahman Bukhatir.

But things went downhill for Sharjah and Bukhatir the moment the sordid match fixing nexus was out in the open at the turn of the millennium. Old photographs of Dawood Ibrahim watching matches from his cubicle in the stadium were to haunt the organisers. That led to the BCCI shunning cricket tournaments in the UAE completely.