The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, in its brief tenure since the redevelopment, has already witnessed incredible amounts of history. It isn’t unfair to say that Indian cricket is at the heart of all cricket at the moment, even if just monetarily – and that stands for the country’s biggest, grandest stage.
The 2023 ODI World Cup final at this venue will always be something associated with the ground, a part of its very identity. But what was the scene of India’s greatest heartbreak became one of triumph and joy as India lifted the T20 World Cup trophy on that very pitch on Sunday night, with an emphatic performance that asserted the nation’s dominance in men’s limited-overs cricket.
Now, with a trophy raised on those grounds, former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh made the point that the Ahmedabad stadium shouldn’t be seen as something that is ‘cursed’ – that particular final on November 19, 2023 shouldn’t become the thing that comes to define it.
“When two good teams play against each other, one will obviously lose. When India played against Australia (in 2023), Australia were the better team on that particular day,” argued Harbhajan Singh to India Today.
“In this game, we saw if you put your right foot forward from ball one, you will get the results. Whatever people used to think, that this ground is a panauti (unlucky), or whatsoever I have heard on social media, that is done and dusted now,” explained the former off-spinner, attempting to shed the tag from the venue.
He also raised the point that Eden Gardens, potentially the most historic cricket venue on the subcontinent, once had that reputation, with matches such as the 1996 World Cup semi-final loss to Sri Lanka. But over time, with feats such as the historic Laxman-Dravid partnership in 2001, that was left by the wayside.
“Lot of people talk about Eden Gardens as well. Eden didn’t have the best of records, but somewhere down the line it changed. Luckily, in our era, we managed to do that,” said Harbhajan bullishly.
“Lots of people talk about this Ahmedabad stadium as well – if the game is happening there, India might lose. But it has nothing to do with the cricketers or the result of the game. It is the mindset of the people who have never played cricket,” he finished, pushing the onus of the narrative surrounding the 1.3-lakh seater ground onto the fans in turn.
This won’t be the last time the Narendra Modi Stadium hosts a big game in Indian cricket – and fans will all hope that Harbhajan has diagnosed the problem accurately, and that the final vs Australia is nothing more than an aberration.
