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Keenan Stadium: Keenan Stadium of Jamshedpur was built about 86 years ago. After the partition of Bihar-Jharkhand, its glory gradually faded. The last international match was played here in the year 2006. After this, Jharkhand Cricket Association did not pay attention to this ground. However, Keenan Stadium has a special identity in the history of cricket, where legends like Vivian Richards and Sourav Ganguly played memorable innings.
Keenan Stadium located in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand was once a special center of Indian cricket. Today this ground may have been away from international cricket, but many golden and bitter stories of cricket are still recorded in its walls.
This historical stadium was built at a cost of only Rs 25 thousand. No international match has been played on this ground built in the year 1939 for the last 19 years. The last ODI match between India and England was played here on 12 April 2006.
This ground is very beautiful. Dalma hills are visible in the background. And the chimneys of the Tata Steel factory were visible along the way. This ground was named after John Lawrence Keenan. He was the former general manager of Tata Steel. In December 1939, a Ranji Trophy match was played between Bihar and Bengal on this ground. This was the first first-class match at Keenan Stadium.
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However, international cricket had to wait a long time to reach this ground. The first international match was played between India and West Indies on 7 December 1983. This was the same period when Clive Lloyd’s West Indies team had come to India with the intention of avenging the World Cup final defeat. In this match, Gordon Greenidge and Vivian Richards had made a historic partnership of 221 runs. The ball went out of the field with such force that it fell on the road.
The pitch at Keenan Stadium has always been strong and the outfield is green. But the crowd here has also been involved in controversies many times. Many matches had to be stopped for some time due to uncontrollable behavior of the spectators. This is believed to be the reason why this ground gradually went out of international cricket.
If we talk about records, this ground proved to be unlucky for Team India. In the 9 international matches played here, India was able to win only one match, while lost 7 matches and one match remained inconclusive.
Memorable innings of legendary players are also recorded on this ground. Vivian Richards played a stormy inning of 149 runs against India in 1983. Whereas Sourav Ganguly had played a brilliant century inning of 105 runs against South Africa.
India-Pakistan match was also played here in the year 2005, which Indian cricket fans do not forget even today. Pakistan bowler Naved-ul-Hassan had taken 6 wickets for just 27 runs and India had to face defeat by 106 runs.
Keenan Stadium is silent today. But this ground is still alive in the hearts of cricket lovers. The question is whether this historic ground will be able to host international cricket again in the future or will it remain just a field of memories.
