Sometimes a country’s crazed fan-following of one player can go overboard. That happened when India and Pakistan were playing in Kolkata during the Asian Test Championship.
Reuters
Chasing 279 to win, India were cruising at 143/2 when Sachin clipped Wasim Akram for 2 runs and was short of his ground via a direct hit while taking the 3rd run.
Now the interesting thing that happened was he bumped into Shoaib Akhtar who was fielding and trying to receive the ball.
After TV replays he was given out, a decision that left many bewildered as he had made his ground but due to the impact with Akhtar the bat went up in the air when the stumps were hit.
Reuters
Akhtar was not to blame as he had no clue that Sachin was behind him and the Master Blaster himself was watching the ball. The crowd however was in no mood to forgive as they started hurling objects at the Pakistani players. Akram had no plans of calling Sachin back and the man himself had to come out to calm the spectators.
The match had to be completed infront of an empty stadium and it was a sad way for things to pan out as eventually Pakistan won the game.
Eden Gardens is no stranger to such crowd unrest, and this time even the Master Blaster could not soothe them though he tried his best to keep things in control. The legend is human after all.
If ever a stadium ever qualified as the best and worst place to play cricket, then Kolkata’s Eden Gardens is a clear winner.
The crowd, atmosphere and overall setting are just perfect to play the game in. It certainly ranks in the class of Lord’s and the MCG.
But the fans have often been known to go overboard in their support of India. Sometimes an excess of zeal results in unpleasant incidents.
It was the New Year’s Test which began on December 31, 1967 between India and West Indies. Now Eden Gardens has a huge crowd capacity. But that day something went wrong. At least 20,000 extra tickets were sold which resulted in too much congestion. The crowd began to spill into the crowd but even then things were not getting out of hand. Then the police resorted to lathi-charge which injured many of the spectators. That spark lit the fire. The spectators, who had outnumbered the police, hit back. They uprooted bamboo poles from the stand, set fire to the canvas roof. Meanwhile the police responded with tear-gas and a riot began. All hell broke loose and there was no going back. The Indian players and officials took refuge in the dressing room. Meanwhile the Windies players panicked and ran outside the stadium. They were eventually guided back to the hotel. One must give them credit for continuing the game in the days to come, for this was a very dark chapter in the iconic venue’s history.
India and Sri Lanka were competing for a place in the World Cup final. The hosts were cruising at 98/1 when Sachin Tendulkar perished for 65. Chasing a target of 252, that resulted in a collapsed that found us reeling at 120/8. Enough was enough for the fans as they went out of control and began to hurl missiles onto the field and burn sections of the stadium. Security had to escort the players off the field and the match was eventually awarded to Sri Lanka as they were clearly in the winning position. It was a dark chapter in the sport’s history and sadly it was not the first nor last time that Eden Gardens would be embroiled in controversy. 22 years down the line, most cricket fans have not forgotten the debacle. It was the one and only time that a World Cup match was left unfinished due to crowd trouble. Neither of the teams will forget it either. For Team India, it was a taste of the wrath from home supporters. For the Lankans, it was an instance they saw a crowd become so hostile just cause they ‘dared’ to gain the upper hand against the home team.