The legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar signaled the start to the fourth ODI of the ongoing five-match series between India and West Indies at the Cricket Club of India’s Brabourne Stadium by ringing the bell with a delighted roar from the fans following it. The tradition which was first started at the Lord’s Cricket Ground was picked up by Cricket Association of Bengal’s Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
International cricket came back to the Brabourne Stadium after a huge gap of nine years. A total of 18 Tests, eight ODIs and a single Twenty20 Internationals have been played at the iconic venue where Tendulkar had fielded for Pakistan during an exhibition match to mark the golden jubilee celebration of the CCI on January 20, 1987.
A kind of firsts here at CCI as the Master Blaster @sachin_rt rings the bell before the start of play today 🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/GsIaaQRIKH
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 29, 2018
India last played an ODI in 1995 when they defeat New Zealand. However, West Indies have played much more matches than the home team. The last ODI hosted at the Brabourne Stadium was the 2006 Champions Trophy final between Australia and West Indies. The venue also played host to India’s first T20I against Australia in 2007.
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The BCCI decided to shift the fourth ODI to the Brabourne Stadium, adjacent to the Wankhede Stadium, the much more familiar venue after the Mumbai Cricket Association’s (MCA) inability to issue tenders to the venue for the one-dayer.
After winning the toss, the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli decided to bat first and they dropped Rishabh Pant and Yuzvendra Chahal, as Ravindra Jadeja and Kedar Jadhav made a comeback.
