Eden Gardens Profile

Eden Gardens is a cricket ground in Kolkata, India. It is the home of the Bengal cricket team and the Indian Premier League's Kolkata Knight Riders, as well as being a Test and One Day International ground. It is the largest cricket stadium in India by seating capacity. It is widely acknowledged to be the most iconic cricket stadium in the country and one of the most iconic stadiums in the world. It is the second-largest cricket stadium in the world by seating capacity. Eden Gardens is also quoted as the cricket's answer to the Colosseum. Eden Gardens has hosted 37 Test matches in India.

History

Established in 1864, Eden Gardens currently holds 90,000 people following renovations for the Cricket World Cup 2011; a capacity down from an estimated 100,000 before the upgrade. Prior to the 1987 World Cup, the capacity was said to be approximately 120,000; however, no official figures have been recorded. Nevertheless, it will remain second biggest cricket stadium in the world, behind the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia and Eden Gardens is also the second largest stadium in India behind the Salt Lake Stadium also situated in Kolkata. Before 1984 both cricket and derby football matches were played in Eden Garden. The stadium is located in the Binoy Badal Dinesh Bag(BBD Bag) area of the city, near the State Secretariat and the High Court. The first recorded Test at the venue was held in 1934, and its first One Day International in 1987. Sporting floodlights, bowlers deliver from the High Court End or the Pavilion End of a pitch under curator Probir Mukherjee. Eden Gardens is renowned for its large and vociferous crowds. It is said that "a cricketer's cricketing education is not complete till he has played in front of a packed Eden Gardens." The Club House of the stadium has been named as the B.C. Roy Club House, after former Chief Minister of the State of West Bengal Dr. B. C. Roy. The Headquarters of the Cricket Association of Bengal are also there at the Eden Gardens. The stadium also hosts Indian Premier League matches and is the home venue for Kolkata Knight Riders co-owned by the Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

Notable events

In 1946, and in-form Mushtaq Ali was dropped from the Indian team selected to play an unofficial test against Australian Services XI. Following crowd protests (with slogans like "No Mushtaq, No Test"), the selectors brought him back to play.
Rioting has been seen at the ground during the 1966/67 West Indies and 1969/70 Australian tours.

16 football lovers died in a stampede after a derby league game between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan on 16 August 1980
Hosted the memorable World Cup final of 1987 which ended with Australia defeating England by 7 runs.

The 1996 World Cup semi-final was called off and Sri Lanka awarded the match after crowd disturbances following an Indian batting collapse.

During the 2nd final of the 1997 Pepsi Independence Cup, the Test and ODI captains of the Indian cricket team of all time (with a few notable exceptions) were given a lap of honour around the stadium.

In 1999, leading Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar was run out after colliding with Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar. The crowd judged that Akhtar had impeded Tendulkar and rioted, forcing the police to evict the spectators. The match continued in front of an empty stadium.

Kapil Dev took an ODI hat-trick against the Sri Lankans in 1991 at the ground.
Harbhajan Singh took a hat-trick against Australia in 2000/01 at the ground. He became the first Indian to take a hat-trick in Test cricket.

VVS Laxman scored 281 against Australia in 2000/01. This remains the highest score at the ground. Australia was defeated despite holding the advantage for the majority of the game in "the greatest come-from-behind victory of modern times". It was only the third time in Test history that a team had won after being forced to follow on.

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