Virat Kohli scored his 75th international century yesterday at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, yes the Narendra Modi Stadium. This century was also important for Virat because it was almost three years after he scored a century in a Test match. In the same way, many Indian cricketers have got the opportunity to create records in Motera Stadium, while the long wait of some cricketers has ended here.
This Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad has been extremely lucky for some all-time greats. If a list of such cricketers is made, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar and now Virat Kohli are among those to have reached cricketing milestones at the ground. Let’s find out how Motera Stadium has been lucky and rewarding for these cricketers.
Sunil Gavaskar: Missed the century but made a big record
Earlier there was only one stadium in Ahmedabad which was named Sardar Patel Stadium, located in the Navarangpura area of Ahmedabad. A new stadium was built at Motera after Gujarat Cricket Association split. In this same stadium, the first Test match was played against West Indies who were invincible at that time. In the same match, Kapil Dev registered a record in his name which we will discuss later, but Sunil Gavaskar came very close to breaking Sir Don Bradman’s record of most centuries in this match.
When he was batting on 90 runs and it was evening time, there was some movement on the sight screen in front of him so he drew the umpire’s attention and started batting again. As soon as the ball came towards him, there was a movement on the sight screen again and Gavaskar was distracted and got caught in slips. Sunil Gavaskar could be seen very angry as he walked out towards the pavilion. Although Sunil Gavaskar could not surpass Sir Don Bradman in this Test, he broke this record in the subsequent test, which was played in Delhi.
But as if this Motera Stadium didn’t want to let Sunil Gavaskar go without making a record, the little master was just a few runs away from becoming the first batsman to score 10 thousand runs in Test cricket when a match was played against Pakistan in this stadium in Ahmedabad. Gavaskar scored 63 runs in the second innings of that Test match and created a record in his name.
The Motera Stadium is the venue for a double achievement for Kapil Dev
The current Narendra Modi Stadium has become a lasting memory for India’s greatest all-rounder Kapil Dev. In the match in which Sunil Gavaskar was dismissed at 90 runs, in the second innings of the same match, Kapil Dev bowled the best of his career and took 9 wickets against West Indies, conceding only 83 runs. Balwinder Sandhu took the first wicket of the innings, had it not happened Kapil Dev would have become the first Indian bowler before Anil Kumble to dismiss ten batters from the same team in an inning.
While Kapil Dev was struggling to break Sir Richard Headley’s record for most wickets and came close to the record, he broke the record by having Hashan Thilakarathne caught by Sanjay Manjrekar at forward short leg in the then Test match against Sri Lanka at the then Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Motera Stadium witnessed Sachin Tendulkar’s first double century
It may have become easy for Sachin Tendulkar to score a century at that time but a double century was still far from him. Tendulkar scored his maiden double-century against New Zealand at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad. In this match, Sachin himself was the captain, and in addition to his double century, Dada, i.e. Sourav Ganguly also scored a century. However, Sachin’s decision to bat in the second innings without giving a follow-on to New Zealand became very controversial.
Virat Kohli’s quest for another Test century is complete
As we know that Virat Kohli scored a century in a Test Match yesterday i.e. 12th March 2023 after almost three years and that too at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad which was earlier called Motera Stadium. Earlier in the last six months, Kohli had scored centuries in T20 and ODI Internationals. But when it came to a Test match century the long drought ended yesterday.
In this way, four great players of the Indian team have created their own records and in most cases fulfilled their long-time wishes at the Narendra Modi Stadium i.e. Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad. Hence there is no doubt that this stadium in Ahmedabad will remain a permanent favourite for Indian cricketers.
