With the emergence of the sprawling, breath-taking ‘Sarusajai’ football stadium and the decent ‘Barsapara Cricket Stadium’, the importance of the iconic Nehru Stadium which was once the heartthrob of sports as well as cultural activities in the state and the north-east, is getting relegated to the background. The excitement of the Bordoloi Trophy football tournament, especially in the 70s to mid 80s, the glorious days of Assam police led by Gilbertson Sangma, remains ever fresh in the minds of genuine sports lovers. Nehru stadium even hosted a live cultural program of Late Mohd Rafi, and witnessed the oath-taking ceremony of the government elected in 1985.
The Guwahati cricket lovers had their money’s worth having witnessed scintillating batting performance by both India and West Indies on 21st October, 2018. More than six hundred runs were scored in the ‘Day and Night’ encounter at Barsapara that included hurricane century by Shimron Hetmyer followed by captain Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Lance Klusener, once a great South African all rounder, had shot into prominence in the one day international encounter against Australia played at Nehru Stadium, Guwahati, in Titan cup, a three nation ODI tournament, on 1st, November,1996. The gruelling encounter between two foreign teams was enjoyed in total capacity, and their love for the game was adequately rewarded. Lance Klusener’s magnificent 88 runs helped South Africa get past Australian score of 239 runs heralding the birth of a very successful all rounder in international scene.
While the first ODI was played in Nehru Stadium, Guwahati, on the 17th December, 1983, between India and West Indies in which India suffered a humiliating defeat; the next ODI between India and Sri Lanka is still fresh in the memory of genuine cricket lovers. On a cold January morning of 1987, India took on a strong Sri Lankan team of Arjuna Ranatunga, Aravindo Da Silva, Chaminda Vyas and others. Capitalising the turning track, Indian spinners, specially, Maninder Singh, Ravi Shastri, etc., had bundled the Sri Lankan batsmen out for a paltry 145 runs. Aravinda Da Silva had put up a fight all alone. India lost two early wickets and the game was thrown wide open. But the batting maestro Gavaskar’s unbeaten 70 runs helped Team India win the keenly contested match.
Among other memorable matches played at Guwahati, the ODI played on 5th Nov 2007 is worth remembering. This was an encounter between India and its arch-rival Pakistan. The Pakistan team with stalwarts like Shoaib Akhtar, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan etc., batting first, put up a challenging score of 239. Saurav Ganguly’s brilliant batting followed by M.S Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh’s electrifying onslaught had steered India to a memorable victory.
Nehru Stadium, Guwahati, has hosted 14 ODIs out of which two matches were abandoned, due to extraneous factors. It has been a lucky ground for Team India having won six matches comprehensively.
A look at the history of building high end sports infrastructure in Independent India reveals an interesting fact. The famous Wankhede stadium, Mumbai and Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata, were built in 1974 and 1984 respectively. In contrast, the multipurpose Nehru stadium was built under the direct leadership and supervision of R.G. Baruah, ‘the architect of modern Assam’, in 1962, that magnifies the vision of the legend.
With the establishment of Barsapara stadium equipped with modern amenities, and coupled with the decline in popularity of the Bordoloi Trophy, the sight of congregation of sports lovers in front of the historic Nehru stadium studded with pristine glory, has receded in the background. However, the Nehru Stadium will continue to provide spontaneous joys to veteran sports lovers whenever they recollect the magnificent games they witnessed here, those which they will cherish forever.
(The author is a retired civil servant and a keen sports and music enthusiast. All views and thoughts expressed in this article are the author’s own.)
