HANGZHOU: What trivia links the two opening games of the 1996 and 2023 World Cups? If you answered England v. New Zealand, it's correct but there's a specific link. It's the only time the hosts will not have opened the men's 50-over World Cup since inception. By another quirk, Ahmedabad, which hosted the first game in 1996, will also be the stage for the rematch of the 2019 final on Thursday.
A lot has changed in cricket since that bum-clenching piece of theatre in 2019. That change can also be seen in the venue hosting the opener. Now one of the world's biggest sporting structures in terms of seating capacity, the Narendra Modi Stadium — or Motera if you prefer to stick to the old name — has held a political rally with US President Donald Trump, welcomed the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for merry-go-round around the ground on the morning of a Test apart from conducting Indian Premier League finals and entire T20I series.
In short, the 1,10,000 seater (or 1,32,000 depending on which number inside the Stadium you want to believe) has sort of become a multi-purpose venue with international cricket one of the many items on the agenda. It's also safe to say that cricket and politics — friends with benefits — coexist everywhere including Ahmedabad. Apart from the opening game, the city will also welcome India and Pakistan (it will be their first ODI match between each other on Indian soil since January 6, 2013 at New Delhi), England and Australia and the finals itself.
This, in and of itself, isn't surprising. India hasn't had one cricketing power-centre; rather it has moved depending on the people in power. Kirti Azad, cricketer-turned-politician, explains. "Wherever the presidents were from, you had that place featuring prominently. Kolkata (Jagmohan Dalmiya), Chennai (N Srinivasan), Mumbai (Raj Singh Dungarpur and others)... you never had one place, right? The traditional power-centres kept shifting. Basically, the presidents would call the shots," Azad tells this daily.
Azad, a three-time MP from Bihar who was with the Bharatiya Janata Party earlier, says the politics behind Ahmedabad hosting so many important games is hard to miss. "Earlier, it was the BCCI president who would call the shots. There are five founding members of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. On seniority, they should be getting a match like India v. Pakistan. Not in Ahmedabad. But one of these associations (Mumbai, Chennai or Kolkata)... you can have in Eden Gardens which has been one of the most prestigious stadiums in the world. Going to Ahmedabad shows the political clout that's been used."
Is it possible to view Ahmedabad as a choice just because of Gujarat's very rich cricketing history? It is possible, according to noted sociologist and professor Arjun Appadurai. But he caveats that by saying all of that is interlinked to the wider political scheme of things. "Gujarat does have a cricketing imagination," he tells this daily from Berlin. When delving deeper into Ahmedabad's recent tryst with hosting events, he says: "It may or may not be about cricket but it's definitely about spectacle. It's the means of production to spectacle. His kind of MO. The key here is, it's not so much cricket or hockey or football but what is the best place to extend the monopoly over (the) production of spectacle. Cricket is a special asset and a low-hanging fruit for the production of spectacle."
When the two captains walk out for the toss in a few hours, one thing will be certain. The Narendra Modi Stadium will be the cynosure of most Indian eyes. Whether by chance or by design.