A majority of the 37,500-strong turnout will have to sit in open stands, that too in the October heat, at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium here on Thursday when India takes on Bangladesh in the ICC men’s cricket World Cup. But hardly any of them will be complaining. After all, most of them are expected to be Gen Z or Millennials.
Shubham Walunj, an IT professional, is one among them. Walunj — who spent his formative years in Rajgurunagar — a town almost 50kms from Pune before pursuing higher education here — depicts the changing landscape of the city to precision.
From being regarded as the pensioner’s paradise, Pune emerged as a student city before transforming into an IT hub over the last two decades. But Walunj — along with a group of friends and colleagues — has taken a day off at work on Thursday.
“Ever since the cricket bug bit, all the elders I have interacted with keep discussing the 1996 World Cup match in Pune, when Kenya beat the mighty West Indies,” Walunj, 25, says. “I wasn’t even born then but I have heard so many tales of the game. I have to be here to witness when the city that’s my home now is hosting its first World Cup match in my lifetime.”
Walunj is obviously referring to the famous game that inserted Pune into a cricket World Cup quiz. Playing its maiden World Cup, Kenya stunned the West Indies by 73 runs at the Nehru Stadium — which was the home of cricket in Pune till the current stadium was readied at the beginning of the last decade.
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Just like non-India World Cup games in 2011 and 2023, even in 1996, there were hardly any spectators for the spectacular upset. Among the 3,500-odd spectators was a group of promising Maharashtra cricketers. Kashinath Khadkikar, the former Maharashtra all-rounder, was among the group.
“We were thrilled to watch Curtly Ambrose steaming in. Only the previous day, we were watching the nets and Ambrose during his warm-up bowled a gentle half-volley to Sherwin Campbell who drove it through covers. Through the remaining session, all that Campbell faced from Ambrose was chin-music,” Khadkikar recalls.
“I wish I had stayed on during the chase. But during the formative stage, our group preferred to head back home after the first innings since we wanted to watch Pakistan’s big match against South Africa on TV. And then the miracle happened, so it’s weird to say I was there at the match but wasn’t there when Kenya won.”
Starting with the high-profile clash between India and Bangladesh, the next three weeks will witness Gahunje — a village on the city’s outskirts off the Mumbai-Pune Expressway — host five World Cup games.
While Thursday is expected to be a sell-out, it will be interesting to see whether Punekars support the World Cup for the remaining games as well.
