Photo Credit: Ridhvan Sharma|Wikimedia
Sunday Snippets
By Venkatesh Raghavan
The cricket stadium in Motera that was recently named after sitting Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the Indian President, Ramnath Kovind, on the day when the India-England third day-and-night Test match took off has a chequered history of having witnessed several cricketing milestones including Sunny Gavaskar crossing the 10,000 mark in Tests, India’s greatest allrounder Kapil Dev crossing Richard Hadlee’s record of 431 Test wickets besides Rahul Dravid’s reaching the 11,000 run mark in Test Cricket.
Nearly a year back, this stadium was the venue for the Modi – Donald Trump mega show which was watched by over a lakh of people. Currently being in the news for hosting the shortest lasting Test match in cricket since World War II, the stadium happens to be the biggest cricketing venue in the world.
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The stadium being renamed after Modi did attract criticism from politicians of all hues from the opposition benches besides adverse criticism on the social media platforms. What transpired in the recently concluded third cricket Test between India and England at this venue attracted both sharp reactions and counterpoints from critics across the world. While the English press was keen on dubbing it a sub-standard Test wicket, West Indies cricketing great Viv Richards gave a strong counter argument in favour of India.
It was witness to happier times in the previous year, when the venue witnessed all its approach routes from the Ahmedabad airport were decked to the brim for the grand occasion when the two head of states would present a joint face to the public. This included resurfacing of pot-holed roads besides widening of narrow pathways or lanes and erection of a kilometre long wall to tuck under the carpet the presence of slum colonies that would have otherwise served as an eyesore for the visiting head of state.
The cricketing ground has now turned into a prominent landmark that is witness to India’s political and cricketing history. However, the stadium is not for facilitating cricket alone. It also houses facilities for hosting football, hockey, basketball, Kabbadi, boxing and lawn tennis. While it was widely reported in the media that the name was changed from Sardar Patel Stadium and renamed as Narendra Modi stadium, the contention met with a sharp denial from local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. In addition, President Kovind commended and sought to justify the name change, stating, “This stadium was conceptualized by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was chief minister of Gujarat. He was president of the Gujarat Cricket Association at that time.”
Besides, a host of BJP leaders came out in defence of a stadium being named after a live person. They cited the names of Mumbai’s Brabourne stadium, Wankhede stadium, Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil stadium and Chennai’s M A Chidambaram stadium to support their point of view. The stadium did witness its high point when the then US President Donald Trump came and witnessed a roadshow in addition to participating in the event christened “Howdy Trump”.
As of today, there is a happy ending tale with the Indian team scoring a comfortable 3-1 series win over England after the fourth Test played out itself to the anticipation of the home crowd. The results of the two games were no different though the format differed, meaning the third test was played with a pink ball in day and night conditions, whereas the final Test used the conventional red ball and was played in fully daylight conditions. So can we call it the good effect of the changed name … that Modi magic does work?
