Miscellaneous

Sharjah Trophy '99: Pakistan hot favourite

The Champion's Trophy 1999 is all set to roll under floodlights at Sharjah Cricket Stadium from October 13-22, 1999

M. Shoaib Ahmed
11-Oct-1999
The Champion's Trophy 1999 is all set to roll under floodlights at Sharjah Cricket Stadium from October 13-22, 1999. And the lights will not be the only source of illumination during the pleasant winter evenings in Sharjah as the tournament also boasts of a galaxy of stars from some of the finest cricketing outfits in the world including biggest crowd-pullers Pakistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka.
Apart from the winners and runners-up prizes, there are attractive packages for the fastest fifty, best bowlers and best fielders. Sharjah is the circuit's busiest venue of One-day International cricket, since 1983-84.
With a total of 146 such contests, twenty-five tournaments have been played here over the last fifteen years ever since the Sharjah matches were recognised internationally.
Pakistan leads the way with ten successes. In fact Pakistan has won every trophy in Sharjah held from March 1989 to February 1993. The Indians hold the second position with six wins. India won the first two recognised tournaments held at Sharjah but have experienced a lean patch till 1995.
Pakistan's Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Rameez Raja and Javed Miandad, India's Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin and Navjot Sidhu and Sri Lanka's Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga crossed the 1000-run mark on Sharjah soil. Similarly the Pakistani skipper Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis have achieved the distinction of 50-wickets in Sharjah. After the performance in Toronto against West Indies, Pakistan remain the favourites to clinch the Sharjah Champions' trophy '99, in which the other teams are West Indies and Sri Lanka.