The UAE had been hosting international cricket in Sharjah for many years but their own team had been unable to make the cut for top-level cricket. All that changed on this day in 1994 when the UAE played their first one-day international – against India in the Austral-Asia Cup in Sharjah.
The team of predominantly expat players was captained by Sultan Zarawani, the only Emirati in the team. In the match, UAE restricted India to 273 for five and were well placed at 161 for three during the chase with Mazhar Hussian making 70. But they started to lose wickets as pacer Javagal Srinath took three wickets to seal a 71-run win for India.
Here’s other memorable events that happened on this day:
1962: ‘Stan the Man’ Musial scores his 1,869th run, a new record in major League Baseball.
1984: India beat Pakistan by 58 runs to win first Asia Cup title in Sharjah.
1997: Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer at 21 to win the Masters tournament.
2004: Barry Bonds hits his 661st career home run, passing Willie Mays on the all-time list in MLB.
