Gavaskar, Manjrekar avoid freak accident at new Lucknow stadium during second T20I

The newly built stadium in Lucknow where India and the Windies played their second T20I on Wednesday averted a major accident. It so happened that one of the glass doors of the commentary box of Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee International Cricket Stadium, crumbled into pieces just when former India cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Sanjay Manjrekar were entering the enclosure. The venue, formerly known as Ekana International Cricket Stadium, was given its new name by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath after the late prime minister and the India-Windies T20I was the first international game that it hosted.

There was little worrying for India on the ground, however, as Rohit Sharma’s side defeated the visitors by 71 runs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. The captain himself slammed an unbeaten 111 to become the first batsman on earth to hit four T20I hundreds. He scored the runs in just 61 balls as India registered 195 runs for 2 wickets in 20 overs. The Windies were never in the chase and ended up at 124 for 9 in their allotted overs. With this, they have lost series in all the three formats in this tour of India.

Both former players escaped unhurt

Returning to the mishap, both Gavaskar and Manjrekar escaped unhurt. “One of the glass doors just crumbled like a pack of cards but luckily no one sustained any injuries. All are safe,” the Hindu cited reports quoting Manjrekar as saying later. It was after 24 years that Lucknow is hosting an international cricket match and it could have been a disaster at the ‘City of Nawabs’.

The new stadium is a private property located in the outskirts of the capital of UP and it was reported that the arrangements were not up to the mark for the media persons who came there to cover the match. It was said the media enclosure was swanky but the facilities were not good as people experienced frequent disruptions in Internet connection as well as the power failure.

The stadium, however, was packed to its full capacity. India won the first match of the series by 5 wickets in Kolkata. The final game will be played in Chennai on November 11.

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