Cricket fans in for a Lucknowi treat

When India take on New Zealand in the second T20I in Lucknow on Sunday the serene Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium will host its tenth menrsquos international fixture Surprisingly fans in the city will witness the Men in Blue in action only for the fourth time After the stadium was approved as Afghansitanrsquos adopted home ground in 2019 they played three T20Is three ODIs and a solitary Test against the West Indies hereAlso readMaharashtra captain Ankit Bawne wants BCCI to rethink Ranji points systemThe first international match at this venue was when West Indies toured here on November 6 2018 To the fans disappointment regular skipper Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni were rested for that T20I series However Rohit Sharma standing in for Kohli made up for it by producing a scintillating 111 not out off just 61 balls his fourth T20I hundred KL Rahul batting at No 4 landed some lusty blows to take India to a strong total of 1952 West Indies without their T20 superstars like Chris Gayle Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo were just too timid in their batting innings They limped to 1249 losing by 71 runs Bhuvneshwar Kumar Jasprit Bumrah Khaleel Ahmed and Kuldeep Yadav all chipped in with a couple of wicketsIndiarsquos second fixture scheduled at this venue was a oneday international against South Africa on March 15 2020 Unfortunately the match was called off due to Covid19 and the whole country went into lockdown a couple of weeks laterFans in Lucknow had to wait for three and a half years to see India in action again Sri Lanka faced Rohit amp Co in a T20I on February 24 2020 Opener Ishan Kishan blasted his way to 89 off 56 balls He was well supported by Shreyas Iyer who upped the ante in the end scoring a 28ball 57 Sri Lanka never really got going in the second innings falling 62 runs short of the target of 200 Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 29Fortunately the action returned to the city in the same year This time it was an ODI against South Africa on October 6 South Africa were fullstrength but India fielded a secondstringed side led by Shikhar Dhawan with the main team in Australia preparing for the T20 World Cup South Africa were on the back foot at 713 and then 1104 However Heinrich Klaasen 74 off 65 balls and David Miller 75 off 63 balls forged a 139run stand to take the Proteas to a competitive 2494 India were in dire straits at 514 before Shreyas Iyerrsquos counterattacking 50 off 37 balls gave them some respite After that it just became a Sanju Samson show He scored an unbeaten 63ball 86 but couldnrsquot take India over the line getting little strike in the death overs India fell short by just nine runsStrangely despite being the capital of Uttar Pradesh Lucknow has never been the centre of cricket in the state 90km away from the capital Kanpurrsquos Green Park stadium boasts a much richer history having hosted 49 international games including 23 Tests 15 ODIs and one T20I But that is likely to change in the upcoming years Along with the international fixtures IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants are also slated to play their home games at the Ekana stadium With Lucknow also getting a franchise in the Womenrsquos Premier League the city is likely to become one of the major cricketing hubs in the country