More than 14 years after Sachin Tendulkar scored the first double century in ODIs at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium, international cricket will return to Gwalior when India play their opening T20I against Bangladesh in the Madhya Pradesh city on Sunday.
The venue though will be different, a newly built Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia Cricket Stadium. Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) also hosts matches at the Holkar Stadium in Indore.
The Captain Roop Singh Stadium hosted the 2022 Irani Trophy match between Madhya Pradesh and Rest of India, but international cricket has been absent since Tendulkar’s magical knock on February 24, 2010.
Traditionally, the wicket is known to favour batters at this venue and it is unlikely to change during Sunday’s T20I.
The Indian team had an intense practice session on Friday where the focus was on fielding drills and catching. Fielding coach T. Dilip’s focus was not on intensity but on “rhythm and flow”.
In a video uploaded by the BCCI, Dilip can be heard saying, “Get your feet where you are throwing... As simple as that. I’m not looking at intensity but rhythm and flow is something we have to achieve today. And once we break into that, we’ll move and take 15 catches.”
Captain Suryakumar Yadav, star all-rounder Hardik Pandya and other youngsters seemed engrossed in the session and pulled off some brilliant catches.
After the opener in Gwalior, the action will shift to Delhi and Hyderabad for the remaining two matches.
Bangladesh are coming into the series after suffering a 0-2 whitewash in the preceding Test series and will be keen to put up a better showing in the white-ball matches.
It will a new era for Bangladesh’s T20I squad as they are beginning life without all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan. The veteran all-rounder had announced his retirement from the format before the second Test at Kanpur.
Shakib’s T20I career spanned more than 17 years and the 37-year-old is both Bangladesh’s highest run-getter and highest wicket-taker in the format.
“We are looking to win this series, to be very honest. We want to play aggressive cricket. If you look at our last World Cup, we had a very good opportunity to play in the semi-finals but we couldn’t do that. But it’s a new team. So I hope all the players will play some good cricket here,” captain Shanto Najmul Hossain told reporters.
“We all know we didn’t play our best cricket (in Tests). So, we are not thinking about what we have done before. Going forward, it’s a very important series for us and we all know in T20 it’s a totally different ball game. That particular day, those who are playing well will win the match.”
Bandh call
The Hindu Mahasabha has called for a bandh in Gwalior on Sunday, in protest against alleged atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh.
In response, the Gwalior district administration has imposed Section 163 till Monday, banning gatherings of five or more people, processions, demonstrations or any public meetings.
With inputs from PTI
