Cricket History
Three hat-tricks have been taken at the stadium, by Peter Petherick of New Zealand against Pakistan, October 9, 1976, Wasim Akram of Pakistan against Sri Lanka, March 6, 1999 and Mohammad Sami of Pakistan against Sri Lanka,
Pakistan has enjoyed some memorable moments on the ground, including a fifth-wicket stand of 281 between Javed Miandad and Asif Iqbal against New Zealand in 1976 and an innings and 324 run win against New Zealand in 2002. The stadium hosted the final of the 1996 World Cup, which was watched by over 60,000 spectators. However, despite the impressive capacity, the ground is often sparsely attended for Test matches, with sometimes as few as 1000 fans turning up. One-day internationals are more popular and crowds in excess of 20,000 are common.
On 3 March 2009, the scheduled third day of second Test of 2008–09 Sri Lanka tour of Pakistan, the Sri Lankan team's convoy was attacked by armed militants at Liberty Roundabout, near Gaddafi stadium. Eight Sri Lankan players were injured, including Sri Lankan captain, Mahela Jayawardene. The Sri Lankan team was air-lifted from Gaddafi Stadium to a nearby airbase, from where they were evacuated back to Sri Lanka.
Read more about this topic: Gaddafi Stadium
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