Tura, Jan 24: In a historic first for the Garo Hills region, Tura will play host to a national level cricket match in the picturesque Alotgre Stadium when Bengal will play against Meghalaya in a league match of the ongoing U-23 Col CK Nayudu tournament.
The match will be the first national level competition to be played on the ground and is expected to see cricket enthusiasts from across the region flock to the stadium to catch a glimpse of future superstars in cricket.
The match will be played over the next 4 days.
Speaking about the enormity of the occasion for both the Tura District Cricket Authority (TDCA) and cricket lovers of the region, Meghalaya Cricket Association (MCA) president, Naba Bhattacharjee asserted the event would be enormous and provide a huge boost for the sport.
“The TDCA needs to be given a lot of credit for how they have ensured the ground is match-ready from what it was 3 years ago. Although the stadium had been completed, the pitch and the outfield had deteriorated over time to such an extent that matches of a higher level could not be held. Hats of the TDCA, who have been working as a cohesive unit to redo the ground, it is now ready to host a BCCI match,” Bhattacharjee said.
A BCCI inspection team had earlier visited the ground in 2023 to look at the ground preparedness but were unhappy with what they saw. The TDCA, which is the caretaker of the ground, then worked with the MCA to redo the entire pitch and outfield to ensure it was BCCI level match worthy and the end result is that Bengal will take on Meghalaya at Alotgre on Saturday.
The match is set to start at 8:30, though a felicitation program has been organised at 8 AM prior to the start of proceedings.
Speaking of the history of how the Alotgre ground came about, Bhattacharjee stated that it was after the findings of the Lodha Committee that a 7 member team led by former BCCI president and ex-India skipper Saurav Ganguly was formed to look into the development of cricket in the country. The committee also had ICC chairman Jay Shah and Rajiv Shukla as members along with Bhattacharjee. It was at this time that the North East states were moving to seek full member status of BCCI which was ultimately granted and first class matches became a reality for 6 North East states (Assam and Tripura already had first class teams).
It was decided that there would be one pitch per state for the 6 North East states with Meghalaya being the only exception.
“I was in constant touch with Vinod Rai (then the interim president of BCCI) who initially declined saying the allotment of a second stadium could cause problems from other states. Shillong was the chosen city though I still continued to pursue Alotgre,” said the MCA president.
BCCI and officials of the committee relented in the end with the BCCI itself taking up the mantle of developing Alotgre as a stadium in 2017.
After Alotgre became a reality, the next challenge was to hold matches of top players in the ground so that cricket could develop further.
“There were a lot of hiccups to begin with, especially the distance from Guwahati, the travel time, accommodation as well as time between matches. It took a lot of convincing and it was only after Jay Shah intervened and asked Abey Kuruvilla (former India international) to visit Alotgre to check on the preparedness,” he added.
After further persuasion, it was finally decided that Tura could hold a match but only if another team (Bengal) agreed to visit.
“I spoke to Saurav and his elder brother Snehashis Ganguly (Cricket Association of Bengal president) and managed to convince them to send a team and that is how history will be written tomorrow,” added Bhattacharjee.
The MCA president said he expected this to be the first of many more such matches to be held at Alotgre, a stadium that he said was close to his heart.
“No praise is enough for the efforts of the TDCA for getting the ground in the condition it is in today. We supported them but their members themselves pitched in significantly, just for the love of the sport. We are looking forward to an exciting contest,” he added.
