Dubai: The slow pitches at the Dubai International Stadium has given the Champions Trophy matches a unidimensional look, but Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) COO Subhan Ahmed on Sunday said that the “workload” of the decks was carefully managed during the preceding ILT20 tournament.
The gradually tiring wickets have made the matches at the DICS here an invariable middle-over battle, where teams struggled to score off freely when spinners were in operation.
“The moment we learned that we are going to be the host (of the CT), we started preparing (the pitches) even during the ILT20 tournament for these matches. We complied with all the ICC requirements,” said Ahmed during an interaction with a select group of media.
“We gave the required rest to the pitches (during the ILT20) that we were going to use for the Champions Trophy. We managed the pitch’s workload as soon as we got to know that there was going to be an ICC event. So far the pictures here have played out really well,” he added.
The ICC marquee event was decided to stage partially in Dubai after the authorities moved ahead with the hybrid model.
Ahmed said the venue is ever-ready to host a cricket match of any magnitude. It has been speculated that the Asia Cup too will be played here later this year.
“We don’t have any official confirmation yet (on hosting Asia Cup) But our unique selling point is that we host events on short notice. This is a plug and play venue.
“If you look at the past 5 years, whether it is IPL, BSL, Asia Cup or the World Cup, we have hosted events on very short notice. We are always in a state of readiness,” he noted.
However, the crowd involvement here did not reflect the gravitas that usually surrounds a big cricket tournament in the sub-continent. Even the blue-riband match between India and Pakistan did not see a full house here.
Ahmed explained the scenario.
“It was picked gradually. There was not a 100% crowd in India vs Bangladesh. But there was more than 60%. There are some travel challenges in some countries. That can be a factor.
“But you must have seen all the matches after that. Attendance was very good. The India vs Pakistan match too picked up later, according to ticket sales, it was well over 95%. If some people could not turn up, we cannot say,” he said.
