Eden Gardens

Updated on Nov 07, 2023

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Capacity 66,349 Owner Indian Army		Opened 1864 Establishment 1864

Location Kolkata, West Bengal, India Operator Cricket Association of Bengal First Test 5–8 January 1934: India v England Last Test 30 September–4 October 2016: India v New Zealand First ODI 18 February 1987: India v Pakistan Last ODI 22 January 2017: India v England Address BBD Bagh, Kolkata, West Bengal 700021 Teams India national cricket team, Kolkata Knight Riders, Bengal cricket team Tenants India national cricket team, Bengal cricket team, Kolkata Knight Riders Similar Victoria Memorial - Kolkata, Kalighat Kali Temple, Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Science City Kolkata, Wankhede Stadium

65000 people singing the indian national anthem india vs pakistan eden gardens

Eden Gardens (Bengali: ইডেন গার্ডেন্স) is a cricket ground in Kolkata, India. It has also been used for Association football matches. It was established in 1864. It is the home venue of the Bengal cricket team and the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, as well as being a venue for Test, ODI and T20I matches. With a seating capacity of 66,349, it is the largest cricket stadium in India, and the second-largest cricket stadium in the world behind the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Eden Gardens has been called "Cricket's answer to the Colosseum" and is widely acknowledged to be one of the most iconic cricket stadiums in the world. The stadium has hosted matches in major competitions including the World Cup, World Twenty20 and Asia Cup. In 1987, Eden Gardens became the second stadium to host a World Cup final, after Lord's which had hosted the first three finals.The 2016 ICC World Twenty20 final was held at the Eden Gardens where the West Indies beat England in closely fought encounter.

Eden bell installed at the eden gardens

History and capacity

The stadium gets its name from the Eden Gardens, one of the oldest parks in Kolkata, adjacent to the stadium, designed in 1841 and named after the Eden sisters of Lord Auckland, the then Governor-General of India. The stadium is in the B. B. D. Bagh area of the city, near the State Secretariat and opposite to the Calcutta High Court. The stadium itself was established in 1864 and currently holds 66,349 people following renovations for the Cricket World Cup 2011; a capacity down from an estimated 100,000 before the upgrade. Before the 1987 World Cup, the capacity was said to be approximately 120,000; however, no official figures have been recorded. Nonetheless, there have been six matches at this venue which were attended by over 100,000 spectators on a day.

The first recorded Test at the venue was held in 1934, and its first One Day International in 1987. The Hero Cup knockout matches were staged at Eden Gardens, the first matches played under lights at the ground. Sporting floodlights, bowlers deliver from the High Court End or the Pavilion End of the pitch. 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." Former Indian Captain and Kolkata Native Sourav Ganguly confessed once in an interview that the roar of crowd at the stadium he heard when India defeated Australia in the Second Test of 2000–01 Border–Gavaskar Trophy was the most loud he had ever heard.

The B.C. Roy Club House is named after former Chief Minister of West Bengal Dr. B. C. Roy. The headquarters of the Cricket Association of Bengal are at the stadium. The stadium hosts Indian Premier League matches and is the home venue for Kolkata Knight Riders.

Notable events

In 1946, an 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 occurred at the ground during the 1966/67 West Indies and 1969/70 Australian tours.

In 1977, New York Cosmos played a football match against Mohun Bagan at the stadium. Pelé played in that match for the Cosmos. The match was drawn at 2-2.

16 football fans 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. Akhtar had impeded Tendulkar and the crowd 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.

In 2000/01, VVS Laxman scored 281 against Australia in the Second Test, 2000–01 Border–Gavaskar Trophy. This remains the highest score at the ground. He was involved in a memorable 376 runs partnership with Rahul Dravid who scored 180. They batted through the whole Day 4 of the test match without losing their wickets. Australia were defeated despite enforcing India to follow-on. It was only the third time in Test history that a team had won after being forced to follow on. It is widely considered to be one of the greatest Test matches in cricket history.

In 2005, in an ODI against South Africa, Eden Gardens crowd booed the Indian team and Greg Chappell because of Sourav Ganguly's dropping from the team. Chappell allegedly showed middle finger to the crowd.

Eden Gardens hosted the historic 199th (penultimate) Test match of Sachin Tendulkar's career against West Indies from 6-10 Nov 2013. India defeated West Indies by an innings and 51 runs in 3 days.

On its 150th anniversary, on 13 November 2014, Eden Gardens witnessed the highest ever score by a batsman in One Day Internationals, a 264 off 173 balls scored by Rohit Sharma during the 4th One Day International of Sri Lanka vs India at the venue.

On 3 April 2016, in this venue, within a span of hours, the finals of the ICC world cup Twenty20 tournaments for the women and for the men were won by the respective women's and men's teams of the West Indies.

The stadium hosted the 200th and 250th home tests for India in 2005 and 2016 respectively.

In 2016, a bell was installed at the stadium to signify the imminent start of play in the match.

The finals of the Men and Women for the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 was played where the West Indies won both the matches.

Records

The top four Test cricket batting scores in this stadium were registered by India: 657–7 in 2001, 643–6 in 2010, 633–5 in 1998, and 631–7 in 2011.

The most runs in Test Matches played here are scored by V.V.S. Laxman (1217 runs), followed by Rahul Dravid (962 runs) and Mohammed Azharuddin (860 runs). The most wickets taken here was by Harbhajan Singh (46 wickets) followed by Anil Kumble (40 wickets) and Bishen Singh Bedi (29 wickets).

The highest score in ODIs here is made by India scoring 404–5 in 2014. The second highest score in ODIs here is also made by India, who scored 317–3 in 2009. The third highest score is made by Sri Lanka, 315–6 in 2009.

The most runs in ODIs scored here by a batsman is by Sachin Tendulkar (496 runs), followed by Mohammed Azharuddin (332 runs) and Aravinda de Silva (306 runs). The most wickets taken here is by Anil Kumble and Kapil Dev (14 wickets each), followed by Javagal Srinath (8 wickets) and Ajit Agarkar (7 wickets).

VVS Laxman and Mohammed Azharuddin have scored 5 centuries each at this venue.

The highest ever ODI individual score of 264 is made by Rohit Sharma on this ground against Sri Lanka in 2014.

Renovation

Eden Gardens underwent renovation for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Renovation had been undertaken to meet the standards set by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the 2011 World Cup. The Cricket Association of Bengal retained the team of Burt Hill and VMS to renovate the Eden Gardens Cricket Stadium. The plans for the renovated stadium included a new clubhouse and players' facilities, upgrades of the exterior walls to give the stadium a new look, cladding the existing roof structure with a new metal skin, new/upgraded patron amenities & signage and general infrastructure improvements. The upgrade also meant reduction of the seating capacity to about 66,000 from around 100,000 before the upgrade.

Due to unsafe conditions arising from the incomplete renovations, the ICC withdrew the India vs. England match from the Eden Gardens. This match, scheduled on 27 February 2011, was played in Bengaluru at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.

The stadium hosted the remaining three scheduled World Cup 2011 Matches on 15, 18 and 20 March 2011. In the last of these three matches (Kenya vs Zimbabwe), the stadium had the minimal ticket-purchasing crowd in its recorded history with 15 spectators having bought tickets.

Stands

The stands of the Eden Gardens will soon be renamed after six eminent personalities. A stand was named after former India captain and Presient of Cricket Association of Bengal Sourav Ganguly on 22 January 2017 during the ODI against England.

The army, who are custodians of the stadium have given a go ahead to name the stadium's stands after former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmia, Sourav Ganguly, ex-cricketer Pankaj Roy and former CAB presidents B.N. Dutt, A.N. Ghosh and Snehasnshu Acharya

Cricket World Cup matches

This stadium has hosted One Day International (ODI) matches during 1987 Cricket World Cup, 1996 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup and Twenty20 (T20) matches during 2016 ICC World Twenty20. The stadium also was involved in the 1978 Women's Cricket World Cup, 1997 Women's Cricket World Cup and 2016 ICC Women's World Twenty20.

* Eden Gardens was meant to host a Group B Match between India and England on 27 February 2011. The ICC, however, stripped the stadium of the match after deciding that the renovation of the grounds would not be completed in time.

References

Eden Gardens Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA