VENUE GUIDE
Follow UsThe journey of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup has been quite tumultuous. It began in Bangladesh, traversed the treacherous terrains of political instability and violence in the country, and eventually moved out of the river plains of the South Asian nation to reach the deserts of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
If you look at it like that, UAE is to cricket what Geneva is to the United Nations. It’s the official home of cricket, but it doesn’t have the vibes going for it, as there’s the Arabian Sea separating the cricket fanaticism of the subcontinent from it.
The conditions are mostly challenging, with the heat, the ball turning in some cases, and miserable weather for any sort of fast bowling. The World Cup moved there at such short notice that most of the teams couldn’t have actually prepared for it. Teams like Scotland and England have been doing their acclimation for some time, but come the 2 PM games, the heat will get to everyone without discrimination.
The other reason it’s going to be tricky World Cup is that the participating teams haven’t played in Dubai and Sharjah, the two venues for the World Cup, for a long time. While Dubai has only hosted five Women T20Is (all between UAE and Namibian senior women in 2023), the last time Sharjah hosted a women’s T20I game was back in 2017.
So to get a grasp of the conditions and the venues, we got in touch with Theertha Satish, UAE senior women’s team opener. She is one of the top batters of the side that missed out playing this World Cup by a whisker. Satish, born in 2004 in Chennai, moved to Dubai with her family at a very young age and has lived there all her life.
How would the weather and afternoon games be like?
Satish actually expects the cricketing conditions to be conducive for cricket in October.
“I think right now the weather is changing from summer to winter. Around October it shouldn't be too hot, but it won't be too chilly either. So it'll be almost an ideal condition to play cricket,” the UAE opener told Cricket.com in an exclusive chat.
However, not all the games will be played in the pleasant evening conditions. Many matches will be held from 2 PM as well, and that’s where the dessert heart might trouble the women quite a bit, especially considering their unfamiliarity with the venues.
“It’s definitely not easy to manage [2 PM games],” Satish remarked when asked about preparing for the afternoon games.
“I think no matter how many years you live there, the sun is always a big factor there. And yeah, 2:00 p.m. games are hard. They have restrictions for workers working in the afternoon in the UAE around that time. So it's definitely really important to keep yourself hydrated and take as many water breaks as possible. That will be the biggest tip.”
With the temperatures reaching high 30s (along with some humidity) regularly even during this time of the year, electrolytes and hydration would be crucial for the players, especially when cramps set it.
“Just keep drinking water and then getting stretches in because you might get cramps very often. And sleep. Just these three things and nutrition as well through a proper good meal and you're good to go. Oh, and sunscreen is very important too, right before the game,” the left-hander said.
How will the pitches behave? Is dew a factor?
While women’s cricket hasn’t been hosted in the Dubai International Stadium much, the stadium is notorious for favouring the side batting second. In men's T20s since 2020, teams have chosen to bowl first 128 times as compared to 110 times they have chosen to bat first. The results have also gone their way, with the teams batting second winning 82 games as compared to the 45 won by the team that batted first.
However, the situation is slightly different in Sharjah, where the odds are in favour of teams batting first. During this time of the year, dew is a certainty in the UAE, and the teams bowling second will find it hard to grip the ball.
“In the night, the humidity starts setting in a bit. So it's going to be a struggle for the bowlers to even hold the ball sometimes,” Satish said, when asked about the dew challenge.
“It's going to be tough for the spinners to grip it and turn it, and fielding is also going to be a bit tougher.”
However, she felt that spinners would be in charge in Sharjah, with them coming into play even more during the afternoon games. That would prove to be a good challenge for the batters, as these pitches are also good to score runs on.
“I think both of them are pretty good pitches,” the Chennai-born said.
“I think there's going to be a lot of run scored in both the grounds. And, the main thing [for bowlers] is to keep the right line in length and bowl good balls. No matter where you are, it's going to be a good ball.
“Spinners would definitely be in charge there [Sharjah]. Depending on whether it's a morning or evening game, the sides will also change.”
How can the non-Asian sides acclimatise well?
Satish banked on the non-Asian sides like England (who have had a camp in the middle-east recently), Australia, and New Zealand etc. to come prepared for the heat.
“I think the weather in itself is the main challenge, but they are top class teams in the world and I'm pretty sure they will come much, much earlier before the World Cup even starts for camps and just to get themselves acclimatised in their match timings,” Satish affirmed.
“So by the time the tournament starts, they would be pretty much set in with, be it the food, the weather and everything around.”
As for the food and dietary concerns, that shouldn’t be a concern in a cosmopolitan city like Dubai.
“I think all the players like can just stick to their routine diet,” the Chennai-born said when asked diet management for players in the UAE.
“One good thing about Dubai is you get all kinds of food. So if the indian team wants to have some indian food, there's plenty of options and so on with all other countries.
“However, like I said before, they just need to keep hydrating themselves as much as possible because in Dubai you find yourself being indoors a lot of. So sometimes you might not feel thirsty, but I think that's when it's important to keep drinking water.
That’s where the recovery part comes in as well. Satish put a lot of emphasis on recovering well in a tournament like this.
“Yeah, the recovery is really important,” the 20-year-old said.
“The bodies are going to get really tested in the heat, and with the number of matches that they have and the intensity of the matches, it's really important to fully restore.”
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