Basking in the Floodlight

The new Eden Gardens, Kolkata was shining in a new armour. For a "veteran" at the grounds, having visited it 21 times since 1993, at an age of about 26 years, I am quite a potent judge to spot the Hocus Focus (BIG) that have been into place and also in place of!!!

In one go, I would say, I loved it!

All new Neelkamal seats are in place, with new and improved flood lights that made the glow irresistible to the eyes, if glared constantly at the pitch for long. The trademark electronic score board, the first in the country, apart from the floodlights, was replaced by a HUGE LCD screen, that did the job of the Score as well as Replays. But, along with that, replaced one, there was also another new incorporation over the J-Block.

The grass trim on the ground bore a Sun Shaped structure and because of the IPL going on, hosting KKR had its light illuminating the backside of the galleries. Looked nice and purple. Here are some snaps, which I would like to put in place.

Club House entrance and the B-Block, Eden Gardens; 30.04.2011

Entrance of Eden Garden's famous Club House; 30.04.2011

And here are some of the frantic moments spent at the grounds!

A Date with Eden.

This date report is due of over three days. I went to the place, a place, where cricketers believe that the game of cricket, which is learnt everyday, remains incomplete unless you play in front and amidst the capacity crowd at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The so called Mecca of Cricket after Lords and equivalent second to MCG, Australia for the great matches that took place here.

Eden Gardens is the second largest cricket ground in the world, with MCG standing at the top and amongst the in-numerable feats that have taken place here have both tarnished as well as uplifted the name and quality of the game here. To have a glimpse of the elite history of the grounds, let me put forward the following notes. To have being part of the crowd for the 8th time is more than exciting!

To have a note of the bad times, the Eden crowd had made it possible to brick a bat the SriLankan team, in 1996 World Cup, when India went down losing. The match was given to SL by default. The first time in the history. The crowd problem took place in Pakistan India Asia cup semis in 2000 when the test match was finally concluded infront of empty stands!

But for India, the ground is a blessing for more reasons. Be it stopping of the band wagon of the Australian test wins or that of the South Africans, it was stalled here at Edens. It is the ground where the feat (third time) of winning a test after Follow On was achieved by Ganguly and mates in 2001, against Australia, which happened to be the first ever time in this new millenia!

The Mexican Wave, whose video I have captured in the recent concluded IPL3 match of KKr against RR is provided below. This time, I visited after a lonf 3 years! A place that can never be forgotten, and a place where watching cricket is more fun compared that of at home! Enjoy the VDO: