International cricket finally returns to Hyderabad

On 9th February 2017 at 9:30 AM, someone around the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium might be saying 2 years, 61 days, 12 hours, 35 minutes and 30 seconds since the last ball in international cricket was bowled in Hyderabad; the cricket fanatic city replicating a famous movie dialogue.

There is no special reason for Hyderabad to wait so long to witness an international fixture. And if we talk about Test cricket, it is almost 4 years since the venue hosted its last match. There is nothing to worry as far as the facilities or the turnout or their behavior is concerned.

The ground has one of the best and longer outfields in the country and a drainage system, which is also one of the best. It has a history of witnessing rain very rarely on match days and even if those rarest of days happen, the ground staff won’t take much time to bring the players back on to the field once the rain ends its burst.

Talking about the crowd, well, the stadium has a history of producing about 75% occupancy during the previous edition of the IPL, where other venues witnessed a dire in the crowds’ numbers.

On a rather unpleasant note for the spectators the Stadium in Upal didn’t get to see the home team win a single game till 2011 in Internationals or in the IPL but the Hyderabadi people have never indulged in acts like throwing bottles or setting fire in the stands in disappointment. Instead, they have a history of supporting the opposition side and cheer for their players as well.

The Hyderabad franchise in the IPL hasn’t been blessed with star Indian players of late and instead has seen players like Shikhar Dhawan and Ishant Sharma more often. (Let’s not talk about their reputation in the IPL) There might be one or the other reason for a stadium to not witness a decent turnout but the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad has most of those factors against it and yet manages to draw people in large numbers.

The ground situated in Uppal, which is near to the edge of the city, is at a touching distance from the highly populated areas and of course the never ending traffic is a barrier with no metro facility either which is a major source of transportation near stadiums in cities like Mumbai (local trains), Bangalore and Chennai.

More than 60% of the ground isn’t covered by shade for the spectators, which isn’t a usual thing you get to see in Indian grounds but Hyderabadis don’t mind to watch their stars in action even if it is under bare sun at least a total of 85 thousands have reportedly witnessed the last Test match at this venue in March 2013, under a soaring sun with temperatures touching mid 40 degree Celsius.

If we look at the number of games each active Test venue has witnessed since 2013, the highest number of Tests is 3 by Mohali, a venue that has seen an overall turnout of 15000-25000 for each of those 3 Tests while Hyderabad has similar numbers in a single day of the Test match.

Tests hosted by active Test venues between 2013 and 2016 in India:

Among the 7 venues which hosted just one Test, Hyderabad is the only venue to bag just one more International fixture in these 3-4 years. Indore stands along with Hyderabad, however, it made its Test debut just last year.

Internationals hosted by Indian venues since 2013:

More than BCCI, it is the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) that can be blamed for the lack of international fixtures. An improper administration and no co-operation with the state government once took away Champions League T20 games due to security concerns in 2013. While the HCA kept messing up opportunities with poorest of managements, the crowd had to watch CCL, a cricket tournament played by celebrities at this very ground with lack of options.

Even the India-Bangladesh Test match had high chances of being shifted out due to lack of funds caused by the BCCI vs Lodha committee tussle and the resolution of the HCA administration with no clarity about the elections which took place earlier, the people should rather consider themselves lucky that their home ground is hosting this game. We shall wish the incoming HCA administration would bring some more sanity in the association’s administration and revoke the cricket crazy city live and kicking by ensuring an international game more frequently.