ICC World Cup 2023 at Eden Gardens: Where India vs South Africa cricketing history swings

The first India vs South Africa match was played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on November 10, 1991.

The year 1991 was an epoch-making one in modern history. A lot of major events happened in that year by default.

The world was never the same after that year. The Gulf War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the communist republics around Europe, they all happened in that very year.

Here in India, we had the shocking assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, then the collapse of the Indian economy and of course the revival through the opening of the markets for the first time ever.

If you were a chronicler of history 1991 was one year where you would be hard pressed and would hardly have time to scroll through your Instagram feeds. Thankfully, then Mark Zuckerburg was still just 7 years old and had not thought of the Metaverse.

But back to 1991 and why it was significant for the cricket world. It had been close to twenty-one years that South Africa had been expelled from the International Cricket Council (ICC) for its government’s apartheid policies.  As a nation, South Africa had been a social pariah for a major part of the world since 1948. India was in fact the first country to withdraw its embassy from South Africa back in 1948.

Indian passports expressly mentioned till the late nineties that they are not valid for Israel and South Africa, two countries who are vital allies in today’s world.

Hence, it was odd that back in June 1991 that it was India who proposed the readmission of South Africa into the ICC. Little did anyone realise then that would be the trigger of something major and iconic between the two countries as cricketing rivals in the years to come.

This was a significant move also considering that in 1987 the Indian government under Rajiv Gandhi almost put paid to hopes of hosting the World Cup that year because of the South African connection. It turned out that some English players had played cricket in South Africa and this was against the policy of the Indian government at the time. Somehow the ICC stepped in and deferred a decision till June 1988.

Finally, the matters came to such a boil that England’s full tour of India in 1988 was cancelled because of their players especially captain of the time Graham Gooch having South African connection.

It hence became clear that the decision of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to support the readmission of South Africa had not come out of the blue. It had the express support of the Indian government of the time.

But no one expected the events to move so fast that by November 1991 South Africa would make its first tour to India on readmission. South Africa had been back in the fold by June 1991, and by October that year they were meeting representatives from all over the world.

At the same time, a Pakistan team under Imran Khan was set to tour India for a five-match ODI series. This was meant to be a build-up for the Indian team ahead of the upcoming Australian tour and the 1992 World Cup. But just before the Pakistan series was to take place, a few activists of Shiv Sena dug up the Wankhede Stadium pitch opposing the tour.

Spooked by the protests and growing diplomatic unrest between the two countries, Pakistan cancelled the tour. This was at a time when terror had sprung up in Jammu and Kashmir.

With the tour cancelled, the Indian board then hardly the financial behemoth they are now started looking for options. A tour by the South African officials led to the idea of their team landing in India for a short series to replace Pakistan.

A series of three ODIs was hurriedly put together for South Africa to mark a return to international cricket.

The first match of that inaugural series was played in the City of Joy on November 10, 1991 marking a historic first for the two countries. As luck would have it, the two stars of the 1990s and beyond Allan Donald and Sachin Tendulkar stole the show in that first encounter.

Little did anyone know then that Eden Gardens, South Africa and India would then become joined at the hip in the cricketing field for years to come.

Two years later, the Eden Gardens had undergone a major facelift. Four floodlight towers came up and a cricket tournament for the first time was being played in coloured clothing as a whole. The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) was celebrating its Diamond jubilee in grand style with a tournament. Eden had been lit up for that with the very first night encounter that featured India and South Africa in the semifinal of the tournament.

It was all but lost for India in that semifinal and then emerged Tendulkar this time with the ball bowling to Donald. This was quite a role reversal from events from November 1991 when Tendulkar led the way with the bat. India won an epic semifinal with Tendulkar bowling a magical final over that is etched in the minds of millennials living all around the globe.

Then in November 2005 the two sides were back at the Eden Gardens this time when the world of cricket had changed a lot. The sport was now run from India financially and in every other way. But there was strife in the Indian camp. This was the time when former Australian captain Greg Chappell was the India head coach and had a major fallout with Kolkata’s favourite son, Sourav Ganguly.

It was, therefore, hardly a surprise that when they played each other at Eden in 2005 the crowd went after the Indian team. They booed the Indian team and South Africa thumped the host by ten wickets. For the first time the Indian team felt they were playing away from home at home because the crowd protested the ‘treatment’ meted out to their favourite son.

India and South Africa are destined to meet each other at Eden Gardens in November only it seems. An ODI in March 2020 was called off due to the global pandemic whereas back in 2015 a Twenty20 match was called off in October of that year due to rain.

Even two of the three Tests between the two sides were staged in November 1996 and 2004. Just one other Test between the sides took place in February 2010.

Surely someone in the ICC and the BCCI have looked at historical records while waiting till the start of November to stage a match between the two sides at the Eden Gardens.

Hence, the World Cup 2023 encounter between the two sides assumes that much more significance.

The two sides already had historical connections with the two giants Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela being the conscience bearers of their respective countries. A significant number of Indian origin population in South Africa meant that the two countries also had emotional connect.

Cricket was the only missing piece and Eden Gardens provides the perfect setting to complete the connection.