cricket newsIt may have hosted the historic 1000th Test in November 1984, but since then the ground has been largely deserted, symbolic of the decay eating away at international cricket in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation of 167 million. Test matches are long gone from the Hyderabad venue and the last one-day international was against Zimbabwe in 2008. Before that, it was against India in 1997. Now the turf has been spoilt by wedding parties and its use as a helipad making it suitable only for local matches to be played. Aside from Afghanistan,
Pakistan has not hosted an international side since gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan team in 2009, but the Niaz Stadium hit trouble long before, dragged down by apathetic authorities and poor facilities nearby. “It’s disappointing to see the condition of Niaz Stadium,” said former spinner Iqbal Qasim, a member of the Pakistan team who played in the landmark 1000th Test against New Zealand at the Stadium. “With no international cricket in Pakistan and facilities unused, it had to happen.” Built in early 1970s, it is the only international sporting venue in Hyderabad, Pakistan’s fourth-largest city with nearly three million residents, and once lured passionate crowds of cricket-mad locals.
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