Excitement high ahead of India-South Africa T20 game at Barabati

Bhubaneswar, June 12( Reporters Today Bureau) : Excitement is running high across the State of Odisha over the T20 game to be played between India and South Africa at one of the famous grounds of the game across the world on Sunday evening.  The game, considered one of the ‘religions’ in the country is being played after a long gap—nearly three years due to Covid pandemic and other schedules. Players from World over highly praise the game and the courtesy extended to them by the people during their stay irrespective of the outcome of the game at the end. The lush green field has been lucky ground for the India team with record of making highest runs in the ODIs and Test matches.

The field is ready, the Administration ready as the game is all set to begin in the evening. A humid evening may help the side batting second.

But the excitement for the game is palpable. It is said tickets have been sold in black market for as high as 700 per cent. Those who can afford have not missed any opportunity to buy one for themselves or for someone they love. Dummy jersies are also on sale to cheer the players in the ground during the match and we may see people making temporary tattoos of flags of the two sides in the stadium.

The police have made elaborate arrangement to ensure smooth conduct of the game. The Olympic Association has also made elaborate arrangements for the comfort of the players during the stay and on the field.

A three-tier security has been placed in place—outside the stadium and inside of it. Hence no untoward incident is likely during the game. The teenagers specially were preparing for their over five hour stay in the stadium for the game.

Media houses have dispatched their representatives, camera and accessories to cover the event while advertisers have put up their bill boards—of different sizes and colours. The 44,000 odd cricket fans are sure to witness a tough match between worlds two top teams.

As is well known, Barabati Stadium is one of the biggest cricket grounds of Cuttack located in the state of Odisha. The venue, opened in 1958, is considered to be one of the oldest cricket grounds hosting a number of international as well as domestic matches. The seating capacity of the ground is around 45, 000 people, which make it one of the biggest venues to host the cricket matches.

The Odisha Cricket Association is responsible for maintaining the stadium and ensuring that the venue is in great condition. As the stadium has the best quality floodlights, therefore the day and night matches can be organized here without any problem.

Apart from the cricket matches, some of the top level football matches are also organized at this stadium.

The first ever one day international match was played here in 1982 when India and England fought against each other. In this match, India played a superb match winning it by five wickets. Since then a number of ODI matches as well as test series have been played at the stadium.

Team India has been really successful on this stadium most of the times with setting the record of making highest runs in the ODI as well as test series.