Dubai Stadium first-ever fixture between Pakistan and Australia marks 10th Anniversary on Friday

It’s a case of Groundhog Day for the Dubai International Stadium as both Pakistan and Australia are welcomed back for the ongoing ODI Series this Friday, in an exact rematch of the Stadium’s first-ever fixture, which took place back in April 2009. In another strange coincidence, the match-referee from that first-ever match, Jeff Crowe, will once again be the man in charge of affairs.

The five-match ODI series between Pakistan and Australia, is taking place in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with the series climaxing at Dubai International Stadium with the final two matches on Friday, 29th March and Sunday, 31st March. To finally confirm that this Friday’s ODI match has come full circle from a decade ago, the fixture is also set to feature the only two survivors from that first series in 2009-Pakistan’s captain for the series Shoaib Malik and Shaun Marsh.

Looking back on ten years of Dubai International Stadium, Khalid Al Zarooni, President, Dubai Sports City and Vice Chairman of Emirates Cricket Board, said, "The past decade has been enormously successful and I’d like to thank the multiple cricket boards who have played such a major part in our collective journey, including the ICC, ACC, PCB and BCCI amongst others. Another contributing factor to our success has undoubtedly come from the strong groundswell of domestic support from cricket fans both here in Dubai and international fans that have travelled to our stadium to see their team play."

Dubai International Stadium now holds several world records of its own, including having hosted the most number of Test sides globally as well as the most amount of T20 international matches at a stadium. Other iconic and renowned cricket events to have taken place at Dubai International Stadium include the Indian Premier League, IPL, Pakistan Super League, PSL, the Asia Cup, ICC U19 World Cup and numerous other bilateral international cricket matches.

Focusing on past successes at Dubai International Stadium, Vijay Sajjanhar, Chief Financial Officer of Dubai Sports City, said, "Ten years ago we had a vision to bring the finest sports entertainment the world has to offer to Dubai Sports City. I am proud that a decade later we are still here and that Dubai International Stadium continues to embody the passion of sport."

Commenting on the high volume of world class cricket hosted at Dubai International Stadium, Salman Hanif, Senior Manager of Venues and Events, Dubai Sports City said, "It is a fantastic achievement of hosting 19 International Teams with over 100 international matches in just a span of 10 years. It is a happy coincidence that we are hosting the same teams who played the inaugural match in April 2009. We’ll be marking this anniversary on Friday with the toss for the Pakistan v Australia match with a special gold coin to commemorate a decade of Dubai International Stadium."

Tickets for both ODIs start at just AED20 and are available to purchase online at the Q Tickets website.

On both days gates open at 13:00, ahead of the match starting at 15:00.

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