International Cricket

UAE Home 2026-27 Fixtures: Dubai, Abu Dhabi & Sharjah Decoded

Rohan Bhatia 19 May 2026 Updated 19 May 2026 ~5 min read ~881 words

UAE home cricket 2026-27 fixtures decoded

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The Emirates Cricket Board has confirmed 22 home fixtures across the 2026-27 window, the most ever scheduled in a single UAE calendar. The block is a layered cake of national-team internationals, ACB tenant matches with Afghanistan as the de-facto Afghanistan home venue, and ICC pathway events. Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah Cricket Stadium each carry a distinct workload, and the calendar is built around the late-October ILT20 window plus the Asia Cup 2027 pre-build. This decode covers every fixture by venue, broadcast routing and how the ECB is monetising the host-venue model.

Dubai International Cricket Stadium load

Dubai International Cricket Stadium hosts 11 of the 22 fixtures, the heaviest workload of any UAE venue. The headline block is the three-match Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka ODI series (June 12, 14, 16), played under ACB tenancy. UAE's own national-team fixtures include a four-match WCL2 leg against Scotland (September 4-10) and a three-T20I series against Ireland (October 22, 24, 26). Start times are 19:00 GST for floodlit fixtures and 14:30 for day games during the cooler December block. The pitch panel under head curator Toby Lumsden is targeting first-innings totals of 175-185 for T20Is and 270-290 for ODIs, with the spinner-friendly slow square retained for the Afghanistan tenancy.

Sheikh Zayed Stadium and Sharjah

Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi hosts six fixtures, including a two-Test ACB-tenancy block against Zimbabwe (November 10-14, November 22-26) plus a four-match WCL2 leg against Oman (March 5-12). Sharjah Cricket Stadium picks up the remaining five fixtures: a three-ODI bilateral between Afghanistan and Bangladesh under ACB tenancy (August 18-22) and a two-T20I block between UAE and Hong Kong (December 4-5). Sharjah's short boundaries and slow square remain favoured by the ACB for the Afghanistan tenancy, with the pitch panel under Rashid Sultan reusing the squares that hosted the 2025 ILT20 final. The Abu Dhabi Test block carries the heaviest broadcast spend, with a 14-camera plus stump-mic and spider-cam rig.

Broadcast routing and ICC events

Broadcast routing is the most complex piece of the calendar. FanCode takes India, Sony Sports owns the Afghanistan tenancy package, e& in the Gulf, beIN Sports MENA, SuperSport for the Africa region during the SA series, and Star Sports for the Sri Lanka tenancy block. ICC pathway events sit on the global ICC.tv pathway feed. Two ICC events overlap with the home block: the U19 Asia Cup qualifier in early September at Sharjah, and the Asia Cup 2027 pre-tournament practice matches in February 2027 at Dubai. Both are governed by ACC and ICC media rights, so the ECB's domestic broadcast is restricted to highlights packages during those windows.

Tenancy economics and ECB position

The Afghanistan tenancy is the financial centrepiece of the UAE calendar. ECB UAE chairman Khalid Al Zarooni has confirmed a five-year tenancy extension signed in March 2026, worth a reported USD 18 million annually across hosting fees and broadcast revenue share. The deal locks Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah as Afghanistan's home venues through 2031, displacing earlier Greater Noida ambitions. The flip side is operational density, the ECB's ground-staff teams are managing back-to-back tenancy and national-team fixtures across the same three squares, and the curators are working a six-pitch rotation at each ground to keep surfaces fresh.

What it means

The UAE calendar is no longer a national-team calendar, it is a regional-host calendar with the national team as one of several rotating customers. The Afghanistan tenancy is the financial anchor, ICC pathway events fill the operational shoulders, and the UAE national team gets the WCL2 leg as its showcase. Watch the November Test block at Sheikh Zayed, that is the operational stress test that decides whether the venue can carry a full Asia Cup 2027 fortnight in early 2027 without a square-rotation breakdown.