Eden Gardens Day-Night Test: The five firsts at the iconic venue

Eden Gardens is often regarded informally as India's 'Mecca of Cricket' and was established in 1864. It is the oldest cricket stadium in India and the home venue of the Bengal cricket team and the IPL franchise cricket team, Kolkata Knight Riders. The ground has been said to be 'cricket's answer to the Colosseum' and is widely regarded as one of the most iconic cricket stadiums in the world. Here we look at five firsts of this iconic cricket ground:

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1. First cricket stadium of India:

The stadium was designed during 1841 and the name ‘Eden Gardens’ was chosen after the name of a very old park. After 1864, this stadium got recognition as the first cricket stadium of India which was constructed by the British. Lord Auckland was the ‘Governor-General of India’ when this stadium was built.

2. The biggest stadium in the country:

Eden Gardens is considered to be the largest stadium of India. It has the capacity to accommodate more than 80,000 people at a time. Eden Gardens is the second biggest cricket ground after the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Australia. In the past, it was even bigger than the Melbourne Cricket Ground but after its renovation in 2011, the entire stadium was resumed around half of its former size.

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3. South Africa's first match here after 20 years of suspension from world cricket:

The ICC had suspended South Africa from international cricket for about 20 years, the reason being the country's erstwhile apartheid policy. The Proteas regained their Test status in 1991 and played their first match after suspension at Eden Gardens, in what was an ODI.

4. First hat-trick in Test cricket for an Indian:

Harbhajan Singh bagged a hat-trick against Australia in 2000-01 at Eden Gardens. Bhajji became the first Indian player to bag a hat-trick in Test cricket.

5. First Day-Night Test match in India:

Eden Gardens will be the venue where the first-ever Day-Night test match will be played in India. The match will be played between India & Bangladesh. The first day-night test was played in 2015 between Australia and New Zealand. Pakistan, West Indies, South Africa, England, Sri Lanka and even Zimbabwe have played Day-Night Tests, while India have resisted the same.  Ganguly, who took charge as the BCCI President recently, took this proposal to Virat Kohli, to which the Indian skipper agreed.

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