Sharjah Cricket Stadium pitch report: records, stats and the ground with the most ODIs

The Sharjah Cricket Stadium has staged 257 men’s ODIs, more than any other ground in the world, and across them the side batting first has won 135 and lost 118. It is a ground that has generally rewarded the team setting the target, in ODIs and T20Is alike, and a first-innings ODI total of around 230 has been par for 40 years.

For India it is also the most complicated ground on the map. India played 72 ODIs here between 1984 and 2000, won 35 and lost 37, and India’s men have not played an international at Sharjah since the day they were bowled out for 54.

Sharjah Cricket Stadium at a glance

Detail	Figure
Built	1982
Capacity	16,000
First ODI	6 April 1984, Pakistan v Sri Lanka
Men’s internationals	9 Tests, 257 ODIs, 54 T20Is
IPL matches	28 (2014, 2020, 2021)
Named stand	Sachin Tendulkar Stand (West Stand, renamed April 2023)

The Tests date from January 2002, when Pakistan began staging home series in the UAE. The ODIs go back to 1984 and to the Cricketers’ Benefit Fund Series tournaments organised by Abdul Rahman Bukhatir, which is how a ground in a desert emirate ended up with the world record.

Sharjah Cricket Stadium pitch report: what is a par score?

The ODI par has hardly moved since the 1980s. Split into three eras, the average first-innings total runs 223.8, 230.0 and 237.2.

Format and period	Matches	1st-inns average	Bat first W-L
ODIs, 1984-2009	196	223.8	108-88
ODIs, 2010-19	42	230.0	20-22
ODIs, 2020 onwards	15	237.2	7-8
T20Is, 2013-19	13	150.3	9-4
T20Is, 2020 onwards	40	157.5	23-17

These figures count completed matches only; ties and abandonments are left out. The bat-first edge in ODIs belongs mostly to the old Sharjah. Since 2010 the record is close to even, 27 wins and 30 defeats for the side batting first.

T20Is still lean towards the side setting the target. The side batting first has won 32 of 54, and at the tri-series between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UAE in August and September 2025 it won all seven matches, with an average first-innings total of 175.4. At the 2021 T20 World Cup it was closer, six wins for the side batting first and five for the chasers, from an average of 150.2.

Is Sharjah a batting pitch?

Less than its reputation suggests. The T20I par has risen from 150 to about 158 since 2020, and the 2025 tri-series averaged 175, but only four ODI totals of 337 or more have been made in 257 matches here. What matters more is the threshold. Since 2020, a side batting first in a T20I that reached 155 won 18 of 22 matches; below 155 it won five of 18. In ODIs since 2010, 240 or more won 19 of 29, and anything less won eight of 28.

IPL at Sharjah: 178 one year, 137 the next

The IPL numbers show how far the Sharjah pitch can swing. In 2020 it was the highest-scoring of the three UAE grounds, with a first-innings average of 177.9. A year later, on the same square, the first-innings average fell by 41 runs.

Season	Matches	1st-inns average	Bat first W-L
2014	6	158.2	2-4
2020	12	177.9	5-7
2021	10	136.9	3-7

The 2021 games were the second half of a season that had been suspended in India in May and resumed in the UAE in September. Rajasthan Royals were bowled out for 85 by Kolkata here on 7 October 2021, the lowest IPL total at the ground. The year before, Rajasthan had chased 224 against Kings XI Punjab at Sharjah, an IPL record at the time, with Rahul Tewatia hitting five sixes in one Sheldon Cottrell over.

In all three seasons the chasing side won more matches than the side batting first, 18 wins to 10 overall. Captains who won the toss chose to field 20 times out of 28.

India at Sharjah: 35 wins, 37 defeats and a 54 all out

India played their first ODI at Sharjah in April 1984 and their last on 29 October 2000. Their record against Pakistan here is the part of the story that stuck: India won six of 24 ODIs against them at Sharjah and lost 18.

Decade	ODIs	Won	Lost
1980s	25	14	11
1990s	38	18	20
2000	9	3	6

The last match was the final of the 2000 Coca-Cola Champions Trophy. Sanath Jayasuriya made 189 from 161 balls, Sri Lanka reached 299 for 5, and India were all out for 54 in 26.3 overs. It is still India’s lowest ODI total. Two days earlier, in the same tournament, Muttiah Muralitharan had taken 7 for 30 against India, at the time the best figures in ODI history.

In April 2001, amid the match-fixing inquiries, the Indian government refused the team permission to play a tri-series at Sharjah and told the BCCI to stay away from “non-regular” venues for at least three years. India’s men have not played an international there since.

The best of Sharjah for India came in April 1998. Sachin Tendulkar made 143 against Australia on 22 April, in the innings interrupted by a sandstorm that became known as the Desert Storm, and 134 in the final two days later, on his 25th birthday, as India won by six wickets. Tendulkar made seven ODI hundreds at Sharjah, level with Saeed Anwar for the most at the ground. Inzamam-ul-Haq scored the most runs there, 2,464.

Test records at Sharjah

Pakistan played all nine Tests at the ground and won four, lost four and drew one. The heaviest of the four defeats came in October 2002, when Australia bowled them out for 59 and 53 and won by an innings and 198 runs.

Record	Figure	Team / player	Match
Highest total	690	New Zealand	v Pakistan, 2014
Lowest total	53	Pakistan	v Australia, 2002
Highest score	202	Brendon McCullum	v Pakistan, 2014
Best bowling	7/94	Mark Craig	v Pakistan, 2014

ODI records at Sharjah

Record	Figure	Team / player	Match
Highest total	364/7	Pakistan	v New Zealand, 2014
Lowest total	54	India	v Sri Lanka, 2000
Highest score	189	Sanath Jayasuriya	v India, 2000
Best bowling	7/30	Muttiah Muralitharan	v India, 2000

Three of the four ODI records came from Sri Lanka’s two games against India in the same October 2000 week.

T20I records at Sharjah

Record	Figure	Team / player	Match
Highest total	215/6	Afghanistan	v Zimbabwe, 2016
Lowest total	38	Hong Kong	v Pakistan, 2022
Highest score	118*	Mohammad Shahzad	v Zimbabwe, 2016
Best bowling	5/13	Samiullah Shinwari	v Kenya, 2013

IPL records at Sharjah

Record	Figure	Team	Match
Highest total	228/4	Delhi Capitals	v Kolkata, 2020
Lowest all-out total	85	Rajasthan Royals	v Kolkata, 2021
Highest chase	226/6	Rajasthan Royals	v Punjab, 2020

Sharjah plays very differently from the other two UAE grounds. For the comparison, see the Dubai International Stadium pitch report, where the chase has the better of the ODI record, and the Sheikh Zayed Stadium records in Abu Dhabi. The IPL venues in India are compared in our IPL pitch report by ground.

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Featured photo: AFP / Lakruwan Wanniarachchi