Just before the England's batting was to start at Delhi ODI, a BCCI official came up to announce that India will be playing two one day matches against Pakistan on April 18th and 19th at Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
April 18th is Tuesday and 19th is Wednesday, which means that not many people will be able to watch this match if they are Day matches... yes, its not yet confirm that these one day internationals at Abu Dhabi will be day-night matches or just day matches. It will be after a long time that Indian team will be going to a gulf country to play cricket matches as there were news of cricket betting (match fixing) going on in those country - Sarjah for example and India has backed out of those matches..
Wondering why so many India vs Pakistan matches are heppenging these days, read this - even ICC is worried!!
But now when they have decided to play India vs Pakistan ODI at Abu Dhabi, its because of a cause. The one day internationals will be played for earthquake victim of Kashmir region on India and Pakistan that happened in October - 2005. These matches are rewarded an official one day International status by the ICC and know what, neither the two cricketing boards - PCB and BCCI nor the players of the two teams will be taking any fees for these relief fund ODI's at Abu Dhabi. But surprisingly, the Abu Dhabi cricket council is charging 1 million dollars for hosting these two one day matches.. The BCCI vice-chairman also announced that these two one day internationals are just a start of of a 25 matches that will be played, also including Australia, England and West Indies in the coming next 5 years for the same cause...
Now the question remains that which channel will live telecast these match between India and Pakistan at Abu Dhabi and what will be the timing of these matches... well, first answer is here. Read On. But as far as the timing of these matches are concerned, it probably be around 12 noon or something like that as it used to be when India played in Sarjah. But if these India vs Pakistan DLF Cup matches are Day/Night, the starting time will be 4 hours later... just come back to this same page, I'll have the exact timing for you very soon.
Which channel will telecast these Abu Dhabi ODIs??
The answer is simple and clear - India vs Pakistan DLF Cup will be live on ZeeSports. At least here in my country India. But wait a minute - these two India vs Pakistan ODI's at Abu Dhabi are not the only ones that Zee Sports will telecast live . They have won the television rights(along with radio broadcasting, Internet and other broadband methods) for the up coming 25 one day matches that India will be playing with Australia, West Indies, England and of course Pakistan over the period of 5 years. All of these matches are out of ICC's cricket fixtures but still will be recognised as one day internationals, starting this DLF series of two ODI's at Abu Dhabi on 18th and 19th of April.
For more information on what is Zeesports and how to install this channel at your home(Zee sports is available through DTH service), try their website.
Will Doordarshan telecast these matches??
In a surprise announcement, Prasar Bharti officials confirmed that Doordarshan will also be live telecasting these matches at Abu Dhabi. They will be sharing the feeds exactly like they did with Sahara One in the home series against England. Doordarshan will be sharing the revenue in a 25-75 deal in favour of Zee Sports, but who cares - Doordarshan will show the matches and that's a very good news from an average Indians perspective!!
Channel for the viewers in USA, middle east, malaysia, Europe and Pakistan.
I know I have been little baised towards cricket lovers in India only - always finding information from their perspective, but I know there are Indians and other cricket lovers - living in countries like US and UK and they too want to know about the channel that will live telecast these India Pakistan ODIs at Abu Dhabi. So here's your information :-
PTV and Ten sports will live telecast these matches in Pakistan while viewers in UK, Europe, Middle East and South Africa can catch Abu Dhabi One dayers live on Zee International feeds. For the cricket lovers in US or America - Echostar Satellite will have the live action while Astro All Asia Network will telecast in Malaysia.
Where to buy tickets for these ODI's??
Well if you live near by Abu Dhabi then you can buy tickets for Abu Dhabi ODI's at all United Bank Limited (UBL) outlets and also at the UAExchange outlets. Another method is to call at 800 4669 which is a toll free number. Sale of tickets will be stating from 10th of April, so you better hurry up. If you are looking for Websites for tickets or other online methods, try this.
What is the timing of the start of these ODI's?
The timing has finally been announced by Zeesports for this India vs Pakistan DLF cup and it will be from 1700 hrs to 0100 hrs India time(IST). As these matches are Day/Night affairs and Zayed stadium is quite a beautiful ground, with a "good looking flat pitch" we can expect some thrilling cricket on 18th and 19th of April. Switch on Zeesports at 1700 hrs - Although they will be starting the pre-match review at 1530 hrs, the actual match will start only at 1700hrs only, which is 5pm...
India and Pakistan teams for Abu Dhabi ODI's
There were some talks about the two countries may not send their best team for these two one dayers at Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi as it is a relief fund match. But when this match is given an official one day International status, both India and Pakistan have announced a full strength squad and one can expect no less thrills from these two matches from any other Indo-Pak cricket match..
The players do remember what happened last time when they played against each other and last time - Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni basted Pakistan bowlers at their home. But one must agree that Mohammad Asif has been a find for Pakistan lately and he is the main threat from an Indian perspective. Another one is Shoaib Mallik, who, probably was the best batsmen in that India - Pakistan one day series, but ended up on the losing side as Pakistan didn't managed to find the balance that Indians did in that series in Pakistan.
Indian team - Rahul Dravid(captain), Virendra Sehwag (vice-captain), Yuvraj singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Venugopal Rao, Robin Uthappa, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Agit Agarkar, S Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar.
Pakistan team -Injamam-ul-Haq (captain), Younis Khan (Vice-captain). Imran Farhat, Shoaib Mallik, Mohammad Yousuf, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Asif, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Danish Kaneria and Abdul Rehman...... last one is a left arm spinner and is yet to make debut for Pakistan.