The Sharjah Era Begins — Bukhatir's Vision and the 1984 Asia Cup

Bukhatir had built a small private cricket facility in Sharjah in the late 1970s and expanded it into a 7,000-seat stadium by 1981.

The 1981 Hanif-Asif benefit was the first major international match; the 1984 Asia Cup was the first official tournament.

Bukhatir, a Sharjah businessman who had grown up in Karachi, recognised the commercial potential of cricket among the South Asian diaspora in the Gulf. In April 1981 he organised a benefit match for Hanif Mohammad and Asif Iqbal between a Sunil Gavaskar XI and a Javed Miandad XI at the newly built Sharjah Cricket Stadium — the first international match on the ground. The Cricketers Benefit Fund Series followed, paying out generous appearance fees that subcontinental boards could not match. In April 1984 the Asian Cricket Council, formed in 1983 with Bukhatir's backing, hosted the inaugural Asia Cup at Sharjah. India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka contested a round-robin which India won. The 1984 Asia Cup is the start of three decades of Sharjah cricket — venue of dozens of India-Pakistan matches, Javed Miandad's last-ball six off Chetan Sharma in 1986, and the regular safe haven for Pakistan home cricket after 2009. The Bukhatir model — neutral venue, generous appearance fees, broadcasting-friendly scheduling — also pre-figured the modern T20 league economics.

“We will bring cricket to the Gulf and the world will come to Sharjah.”

“Without Sharjah, cricket's commercial age comes a decade later.”

Sharjah hosted regular India-Pakistan ODIs through the 1980s and 90s, including Miandad's 1986 last-ball six.