Gandhi-Mandela Series: Match at Eden Gardens set to halt unique streak
Amongst all international cricket playing countries which have hosted more than 5 T20 internationals, India boasted of a unique record till today, that of a different venue hosting every time a match took place.
There in fact had been 13 matches, the last of them being in Cuttack which saw a different city playing host to the proceedings. For the uninitiated, here is the entire list:
1. Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
2. Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur
3. Punjab Cricket Association Ground, Mohali
4. Eden Gardens, Kolkata
5. Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam
6. Chepauk Stadium, Chennai
7. Maharshtra Cricket Association Ground, Pune
8. Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
9. Chinnaswamy, Bangalore
10. Motera, Ahmedabad
11. Saurasthra Cricket Association Ground, Rajkot
12. Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Ground, Dharamsala
13. Barabati Stadium, Cuttack
It’s pretty apt though that the sequence will be halted at a venue which has been chosen to host the World T20 finals on April 3 next year. Also, the match is deemed significant as it’s the dawn of a new era for cricket in Bengal, that under the aegis of former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly.
Talking ahead of the fixture, the newly appointed head of the CAB seemed enthused and assured the media that the match will see a lot of runs being scored, he said, “It is a good wicket, a batting friendly one.”
Asked if the turf prepared by the veteran Prabir Mukherjee will aid spinners, the 43-year-old was quick to retort: "Why are you asking me now? The series is done and dusted.”
Mukherjee himself vouched for a high scoring encounter and quipped, “Definitely, it will favour the batsmen. It also depends on the weather. If it rains, we might have a different scenario on our hands.”
Hopefully it wouldn’t though, also the cricketing aficionados would not want a repeat of what ensued at Cuttack the other day. Reassuring us about crowd security, CAB treasurer Biswaroop Dey said, “We had a meeting with the top brass of Kolkata Police. There will be a lot more police officers on duty in the galleries and near the ground so as to avoid any such occurrences.”
Eden, as most of us would remember played host to one of the most despicable days in Indian cricket, on March 13, 1996 as the Azharuddin led side had to forfeit a World Cup semi final. Dey however assured us against an encore, “The security is foolproof.”