Baseball United announces official schedule for Dubai Showcase in November

DUBAI: Baseball United, the sport’s first-ever professional league focused on the Middle East and Indian subcontinent, has announced the official dates and times of its Dubai Showcase games.

The Showcase will take place from Friday, Nov. 10 to Sunday, Nov. 12, in Dubai. All games will be played at Dubai International Stadium — a cricket pitch that Baseball United will transform into a diamond.

The first professional baseball game in the region will feature the world-renowned, international rivalry — India versus Pakistan. The Mumbai Cobras will serve as the home team, hosting the Karachi Monarchs on Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. This historic matchup brings together the most populous metropolitan areas of the region’s two largest nations.

“Mumbai versus Karachi might be the most epic way to open any sports league,” said Kash Shaikh, Baseball United president, CEO, and majority owner. “When teams from those two nations compete in cricket, nearly 500 million people watch. If we can inspire even a small fraction of that viewership, it will be an incredible stage for baseball in the region. And from an attendance standpoint, we are looking forward to welcoming baseball fans from all walks of life — and from dozens of different countries — to enjoy this classic showdown.”

Indians and Pakistanis make up roughly half the population of the UAE. In addition, according to the league’s research, there are 800,000 avid baseball fans of more than a dozen nationalities living in the UAE. Fifty percent of those fans live in Dubai.

The remainder of the Showcase schedule will include a doubleheader on Saturday, Nov. 11, beginning with the Karachi Monarchs hosting the Abu Dhabi Falcons at 2 p.m. The second game will feature the Mumbai Cobras