NidalM Photography / Blog / Travelography / Pakistan vs New Zealand in Dubai

Pakistan vs New Zealand in Dubai

Posted by NidalM on Dec 5th, 2009 | 6 comments

Those of you who have me on Facebook will know this already, and those of you hanging around for long enough here must have had an inkling, that I’m originally from Pakistan. That said, having lived in the Middle East and United States for most of my life, I make for a very confused Desi

Growing up, while most kids looked up to Batman and Spiderman for a role model, my fellow compatriots looked no further than our very own national cricket team (though living in Saudi, I was heavily influenced by a certain Captain Majed ). Though the team may have fallen from grace in recent times due to political drama, there can be little doubt that those brown men in green kits are among the best cricket players in the world.

One a recent trip to Dubai, I got the chance to watch a cricket game played between the national teams of Pakistan and New Zealand. Here’s a spoiler. Pakistan won. Because we’re awesome ;P

BIG Pictures
Smaller Pictures

Dubai has a 'City' for everything. Music City. Health City. And now, a Sports City. One with its very own cricket stadium.

The atmosphere outside the stadium was electric to say the least. I have never seen so many people dressed up in traditional Pakistani garb outside .... wel.. Pakistan!

There's a joke Russel Peters once said. A Pakistani could be completely Americanized and sporting a weird Urdu accent, but when it comes to sayin 'Pakistan', his accent turns into the most Desi ever. This is also true for Pakistanis at cricket matches ;P

A few things you see are beyond explanation. For example, why in gods name is that man carrying an oversized teddy bear?

A special treat for the Pakistan fans (and the NZ ones too, if they had any taste ;P). One of Pakistan's best duos: Strings, Live in concert at the stadium.

A little extra cash, and some great friends = Best seats in the house!

Now lets note something down here. The integrity of journalism implies that I should apply equal coverage to Pakistan and 'that other team'. Thankfully I'm no journalist. I'm Paki. And damn proud of it. Biased commentary commences.

Alright alright, fine... The New Zealanders were there too. But we ALL know Pakistan is the center of the universe here ;P

Probably one of the most bizarre additions to cricket as of late: Cheerleaders. Truckers in the audience were very happy with this.

Hello! I be NidalM. You're highly biased photographer covering the game between Pakistan and the 'Goras'.

And so the bashing of New Zealand commences. Pakistan elects to bat first. Kamran Akmal does the rest ;P

Thats what SHE said!

Oh SHI.. ahem ... I mean. Well it happens. And you gotta let the other team *think* they have a chance right?

Now noone really goes to cricket stadiums to watch the game. Win or lose (but preferrably win!), its all about cheering, shouting and all round insanity!

It's also about attracting attention. For may people, the objectinve of coming to a cricket game is to look as absurd as possible so the video cameras pick you up and broadcast you to the world. This explains the man with the bear earlier ;P

While this may be a great picture of a happy Pakistani fan, it should be noted that I was trying to focus on something behind him ;P

I've been following Afridi since I was a little kid. Everybody know whats about to happen when he has that batting stance. ;P

Pakistan's turn to bowl. Afridi, the new Pakistani captain after much political drama, instructs Umar Gul on how to kick ass.

Umar Gul was stationed at the boundary right in front of us. He looked right at me! If I was bold enough, I could've touched him. And if I was weird enough, I could've licked him too!!

Long story short... New Zealand didn't make it. It all came down to this final catch...

... and it was GOOD! Rojoice for awesomeness has prevailed...!

How do we celebrate? BHANGRA!

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Souma

autofocus, no matter how many points you use, sometimes it manages to miss the subject… great photos tough!
http://www.nidalm.com/blog/ NidalM

Sometimes I just think it has better morals than I do ;P
Chiara

Somehow the cheerleaders are in very clear focus!

I am not sure how to frame this without questioning anyone's or anything's morals but linguistic offense might be taken by some at your choice of wording for the caption of the picture of the “happy Paki fan”. And I don't mean the use of the epithet “Paki” when the rest of us have been taught to say Pak, or since I don't like that for some as yet inexplicable (to myself) reason, Pakistani. LOL

That said, great photos! and a slice of the excitement among aficionados of such an unintellible sport.
http://halfthedeen.blogspot.com/ Single4now

I've only been to one game and it was the most boring one, ever. I'm not a fan of cricket. It's one of the (if not the most) slowest game on Earth!

“Cheerleaders. Truckers in the audience were very happy with this.”
Don't you mean laborers? And guys in general?

“HUGE. Thats what SHE said!”
She? What's that even supposed to mean? O.o Chiii.

“I've been following Afridi since I was a little kid. Everybody know whats about to happen when he has that batting stance. ;P”
His pants rip? lol. Sorry, couldn't help myself. I don't find anything interesting about cricket. Still, I like the shots of the shoes, the face paint and the happy Paki fan.
susanne430

Great photos. Hmmm, those cheerleaders look interesting. Nothing like the ones here in the US. Is that the Muslim version of cheerleaders? Btw, I've never seen cricket so this was a learning thing for me. Nice shoes picture.
http://www.mylifeinjaypeg.com Arslan

hahah your photos have funniest titles!