Sri Lanka back quicks in Mohali Test

Today’s first Test against India will be Sri Lanka’s 300th Test match and the venue that is hosting this game will be I.S. Bindra Stadium in Mohali, one of the cities in the state of Punjab.

The ground has been named after one of cricket’s most powerful men – I.S. Bindra – a former President of Board of Control for Cricket in India. A former Secretary of Indian President Zail Singh, Bindra was the President of Punjab Cricket Associating from 1978 to 2014. He along with Jagmohan Dalmiya were responsible for successfully hosting the 1987 and 1996 World Cups.

Mohali has hosted two World Cup semi-finals. It  was here Australia recorded a come from behind victory against West Indies in the 1996 semi while India beat Pakistan in another thrilling encounter in the 2011 semi-final.

While there were other prominent Indian stadiums like Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, Chidambaram Stadium in Madras and Wankhede in Bombay, Mohali was chosen to host the 1996 semi-final given the influence of Bindra in cricket circles.

Mohali has been hosting international cricket only since 1993 and before that games were played in Punjab in the neighbouring city of Chandigarh. Sri Lanka played a Test match there in 1990.

The state of Punjab has produced several cricketers and the most prominent of them are Yuvraj Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu. The latter is now a Member of Parliament.

Before partition, Punjab was a big state under the British rule with Muslim Punjabis living in West Punjab and Hindu Punjabis mostly occupying the east. With the state’s capital Lahore going to Pakistan, east Punjab needed a capital and hence Chandigarh emerged.

The Sikh community dominate the region of Punjab representing nearly 60 percent of the population. It’s the only Sikh majority state in India.