As the t20 leagues around the world are increasing day by day, for sure it will going to make cricket more interesting in upcoming years. But as a consequence bilateral series between the countries might get reduced in order to conduct these many short format leagues at the same time. Moreover, the growth of IPL certainly increased the viewership not only on t.v but also in cricket stadiums. As a result BCCI is started to construct new stadiums to counter the more amount of people in the stadiums. But have you ever thought which is the Oldest Cricket Stadium In India? I think you don’t, Therefore let’s take a look on some of them.
Top 5 Oldest Cricket Stadiums of India
1 Eden Gardens – Built in 1864
One of the best place for cricket fans to experience the unreal joy from Eden Gardens ground which is located in the city of Kolkata, tops the chart in terms of oldest cricket stadium in India.
As it is established in 1864 by Governor-General Auckland, we can also count it as the first cricket stadium of India. Being the oldest ground of India, it carries big importance to host the major international and world cup matches of India and many other teams.
Moreover, Eden Gardens has hosted highest cricket games in Test and ODI format. Usually in white ball cricket, Eden Gardens is a batting friendly wicket whereas in test format it helps spinners quite a bit. As of now, 42-test matches, 32-ODI, and 11-T20 games have being played on this surface.
First Match Of Eden Gardens Cricket Stadium : The very first international match on this ground was played in 1934 January, between India and England. However, the first domestic match was played in 1917.
2 Arun Jaitley Stadium – Built in 1883
Capital city of India, Delhi is not far behind Eden Gardens in terms of oldest cricket stadium in India. Delhi’s Arun Jaitley cricket ground was established in year 1883 by Sultan Feroz Shah. As the years passed, the development of this ground made it very well for the fans to watch the game.
The another famous name of Arun Jaitley cricket stadium is “Feroz Shah Kotla ground” which consists the capacity of 41,000 spectators at a time. Moreover there are more than 5 matches to be played on this surface, in this year’s odi world cup 2023.
Apart from this, Arun Jaitley stadium has conducted 34-test, 25-ODI, and 6-T20I games on this tricky wicket which most of the times goes in favour of Spinners and medium pacers. On top of that, if there is due factor in night games then batsman’s get the upper hand in the game.
Average batting score on Arun jaitley cricket ground : If the game is 50-overs format, then we can expect the first inning score to cross 237 runs to have winning chances. Whereas in Test cricket the average 1st inning batting scores jumps to 340 runs and in second innings it goes a bit down till 315 runs.
3 M.A. Chidambaram Stadium – Built in 1916
If you are regular viewer of IPL and fan of chennai super kings then you might quite familiar to this ground. Yes I am referring to the home ground of CSK, Chepauk stadium which is located in Chennai and made by the East Coast and Constructions and Industries back in 1916.
Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium which comes on third places when it comes to oldest cricket stadium in India, holds historic value for Indian cricket as it is the first ever cricket ground where India got the taste of victory in test cricket over England in year 1953.
Chidambaram Stadium is one of those ground where almost every team struggles to make even a respectful total against India because of its uneven bounce and high degree of spin. The prime example is, India’s first world cup match of 2023 which was played against Australia where aussies got all out on 199 runs.
Pitch Condition : The equation is quite simple here, just win the toss and choose to bowl first as the surface becomes better for batting in the second half of the game in ODI and T20I. As it is situated just near the sea, the moisture will be always there to give extra benefits for bowlers.
4 Brabourne Stadium – Built in 1937
Moving ahead Mumbai based Brabourne Stadium which ranks on 4th place in the list of oldest cricket stadium in India. In 1937 it was the idea and the plan of Mumbai’s Governor to make Brabourne Stadium similarly like Lords cricket ground.
Interesting thing is just in the area of 1km there is a one of the smallest cricket ground of India located, which is popularly known as Wankhede Stadium but still the value of Brabourne ground did not reduced because of his beautifully structured stands and square boundaries likes Lords cricket ground.
Brabourne ground 18-Test, 9-ODI, and 1-T20 international matches. Furthermore, it is one of those cricket stadiums which contains solar energy panels on it’s roof. Around 50% roof area of Brabourne Stadium is covered with green energy which helps in generating the electricity of ground.
5 Green Park Stadium – Built in 1937
The prominent place for international cricket in Uttar Pradesh, Green Park stadium which is situated in Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh with the spectators capacity of 32,000 cricket fans. It’s establishment was done in year 1945 by colonial government of India for the purpose of Football, but later it became iconic ground for cricket only.
Fifth Oldest cricket stadium of India, Green Park is mostly used for test games of India following with ODI format as well. As of now, there has 23-test games, 15-ODI, and 1-T20 matches have been hosted. If you have ever watched test game on this ground that too in winters, you will be quite familiar with its early morning foggy whether which is the only trouble making thing of this stadium.
The surprising thing is Uttar Pradesh based team in IPL, Lucknow Supergiants has not played a single game on this surface of Green Park stadium which is considered as home ground. Moreover, the present situation of this ground is not quite good because it comes under its state government instead of Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association.
