Nehru Stadium - Pune

The Nehru Stadium relates to a lot of stadiums in India. The most famous cricketing venue with the name of Nehru has been the one in Pune. The Nehru Stadium in Pune has a capacity of 25,000 and was previously known as the “Club of Maharashtra Ground”.

It was built in 1969, and has also hosted other sporting events such as wrestling. The curator of the stadium is Chandu Borde.

The stadium has hosted a total of eleven ODIs, including two World Cup matches. The ground is the current home of the Maharashtra Cricket Team who represent Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy.

History

The Nehru Stadium was built and established in 1969, in the first match between Bill Lawry’s Australia and West Zone. The Australians had come to tour India in 1969.

Curated by Chandu Borde, the stadium has been witnessed to over 11 ODIs, the first being held on 5 December 1984 between India and England. England chased down India’s target of 215 with 4 wickets in hand.

The Western Zone team used the stadium for their matches from 1975-2001. The stadium did not have floodlights for a very long time and had hence hosted only ODIs.

Recent renovations by the Pune Cricket Association have helped bring the stadium floodlights in order to be considered as an international cricketing venue in the future.

Major Matches

The first international match to be held here was an ODI between India and England. One match from the 1987 World Cup was held here, between England and Sri Lanka. England won the match by 8 wickets.

Another major tournament match came in 1996, when minnows Kenya defeated West Indies in one of cricket history’s major upsets.

The stadium’s leading run scorers are England’s Mike Gatting (161 runs), Australia’s Mark Waugh (133 runs), and New Zealand’s Chris Cairns (130 runs). The leading wicket-taker here is Ajit Agarkar, with 8 wickets.

Controversies

Even though there has been nothing major as a “controversy” regarding the stadium, there was widespread criticism of the Maharashtra Cricket Board’s decision to stop international matches being held here.

There hasn’t been a single international match here since 2005 and there has been talks of bringing the stadium back into contention after recent renovations to install floodlights.

Recent Matches

The most recent ODI held here was on 5 November 2005, between India and Sri Lanka. The match is famous for the 5-wicket haul by Ajit Agarkar. The stadium is famous for chases and has yielded 9 wins out of 11 for the side batting second.