Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
Kaloor Stadium
Yellow Arena
The stadium during an Indian Super League match of Kerala Blasters FC
LocationKaloor, Kochi, India
Coordinates9°59′50″N 76°18′04″E / 9.99722°N 76.30111°E / 9.99722; 76.30111
Public transitJ. L. N. Stadium metro station Kaloor Bus Stand
OwnerGreater Cochin Development Authority
OperatorGreater Cochin Development Authority
Executive suites109
Capacity80000
Record attendance100,000 (India vs Iraq 1997)[1]
SurfaceRiviera Bermuda Grass
Construction
Opened1996 (1996)
Renovated2000, 2017
Tenants
Kerala State Football Team (1997–present)
Kerala Blasters FC (2014–present)
India national football team (selected matches)

The Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, also known as Kaloor Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Ernakulam Kochi, Kerala, India. Since the 2017 renovation, the stadium has a seating capacity of 68,000.[2] Previously, it used to have capacity of 80,000 spectators, that was limited to 68,000 for Indian Super League matches due to various security reasons.[3] It is the home ground of the Indian Super League Club Kerala Blasters FC.[4][5][6] The stadium is widely touted to have hosted one of the loudest audiences for association football matches in the world.[7]

The stadium has played host to a number of international cricket and football matches but after 2014 it didn't hold any cricket match due to ISL. The extensive grounds of the stadium serve as venue for important exhibitions, cinema events and political rallies in the city. The most innovative aspect of the stadium is its unique lighting towers of 2 kW Floodlights which when switched on fully can provide lighting levels for HD telecast. The Structure of the tower is itself one of a kind in India.[8][9] Greater Cochin Development Authority leased out the Jawaharlal Nehru International stadium at Kaloor to the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) for a period of 30 years.

The stadium acts as the home ground for teams including Kerala cricket team, Kerala Blasters FC (Indian Super League). As of 19 August 2017, the stadium has hosted 10 One Day Internationals. Stadium holds the privilege of having the fifth loudest crowd (128 db) in the world,[10] during ISL 2016 final match where Kerala Blasters played against Atletico de Kolkata.

Kochi was one of the six host cities for 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup held in India.[11] It was extensively renovated before the event.[2]

History

Early years and football's popularity

The Kaloor Stadium was originally constructed as a cricket stadium. But considering that Kerala is one of the few regions in India where football enjoys considerable popularity it was used for football matches also. Indeed, in a match between India and Iraq in 1997, approximately 1,00,000 spectators filled up the venue, thus overcrowding it, which remains a record at this place. This was in the Nehru Cup International Football Tournament in 1997, which was the first tournament at the venue. The stadium won several laurels for being constructed in a timely manner.[12] The stadium was completed under the watchful eyes of late V. Joseph Thomas IPS who was the head of the Greater Cochin Development Authority. He was a huge fan of football from his college days at St. Thomas College, Palai and also served as the patron of the Kerala State Athletics Association.[13] The stadium was inaugurated by then President of India Shankar Dayal Sharma in 1996. It has 1.3 kilometres in outer circle.

International cricket

After 1998, football went down and cricket took the centre-stage for many years, drawing sell-out and high money grossing games. In fact, the highest money grosser at the venue was made in a cricket ODI match between India and its arch-rival Pakistan in April 2005. The first ODI played on this ground was between India and Australia on 1 April 1998.

Kaloor stadium hosted the first match India played after Sachin Tendulkar's retirement. The pavilion was renamed as Sachin Tendulkar pavilion as an honour to him before this match between India and West Indies on 21 November 2013 which India won by 6 wickets.

The stadium underwent a massive renovation including a modern turf, an aesthetic modern roofing and a four-lane road from the south side of the stadium.

The first Indian Premier League game at the stadium was on 9 April 2011, when the Kochi Tuskers Kerala hosted the Royal Challengers Bangalore. It was the first IPL match for the Kochi Tuskers. Five of their 2011 home games were played in this stadium, and the other two were played at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore. The stadium hosted the semi-final and final of the 2013 Duleep Trophy.

Return of football and the ISL

Stadium before the start of an ISL match

In 2011, Chirag United claimed the tenancy of the venue. However, the premier football club of India was still not able to fill up the stadium's massive capacity.[14] Football returned to prominence at the venue after the launch of Indian Super League in 2014. The stadium is the home ground to Kerala Blasters, one of the teams with the most fanbases in the ISL. Some of the games involving the home team drew crowds in excess of 55,000 in the inaugural edition.[15]

The first Indian Super League game at the stadium was on 6 November 2014, when the Kerala Blasters FC hosted the FC Goa. It was the first ISL match for the Kerala Blasters. The stadium had an average attendance of over 40,000 for the Indian Super League matches in 2014. The game between Kerala Blasters FC and Chennaiyin FC saw 61,323 spectators on 30 November 2014.

The stadium was the venue for 2013 Santosh Trophy finals.

The famous "Maro Maro" song composed by A.R. Rahman for the Tamil movie Boys directed by Shankar, climax scenes of the Tamil movie Velayudham starring Vijay, Malayalam movie Run Baby Run starring Mohanlal and many other Indian Films were shot in the stadium.

ODI matches held

1 April 1998
Scorecard
 India
309/5 (50 overs)
v
 Australia
268 (45.5 overs)
A Jadeja 105 * (109)
MS Kasprowicz 3/50 (8.2 overs)
AC Gilchrist 61 (45)
Sachin Tendulkar 5/32 (10 overs)
India won by 41 runs
Umpires: SK Bansal and AV Jayaprakash
Player of the match: Sachin Tendulkar (India)
  • India won the toss and elected to bat first.

9 March 2000
Scorecard
 India
302/7 (49.4 overs)
v
 South Africa
301/3 (50 overs)
Ajay Jadeja 92 (109)
WJ Cronje 2/48 (8 overs)
G.Kirsten 115 (123)
Rahul Dravid 2/43 (9 overs)
India won by 3 wickets
Umpires: MR Singh and CR Vijayaraghavan
Player of the match: A Jadeja (India)
  • South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first.

13 March 2002
Scorecard
 India
191 (48.3 overs)
v
 Zimbabwe
197/4 (44.2 overs)
Mohammad Kaif 56 (78)
Douglas Hondo 4/37 (8.3 overs)
ADR Campbell 71 (119)
Ajit Agarkar 2/28 (10 overs)
Zimbabwe won by 6 wickets
Umpires: Vijay Chopra and Devendra Sharma
Player of the match: Douglas Hondo
  • India won the toss and elected to bat first.

2 April 2005
Scorecard
 India
281/8 (50 overs)
v
 Pakistan
194 (45.2 overs)
Virender Sehwag 108 (95)
Arshad Khan 4/33 (6 overs)
Mohammad Hafeez 42 (75)
Sachin Tendulkar 5/50 (10 overs)
India won by 87 runs
Umpires: Billy Bowden (New Zealand) and AV Jayaprakash
Player of the match: Virender Sehwag
  • India won the toss and elected to bat first.

6 April 2006
Scorecard
 India
238/6 (47.2 overs)
v
 England
237 (48.4 overs)
Rahul Dravid 65* (73)
Ian Blackwell 2/41 (10 overs)
Geraint Jones 49 (66)
Yuvraj Singh 2/34 (8 overs)
India won by 4 wickets
Umpires: K Hariharan (India) and RE Koertzen (South Africa)
Player of the match: Yuvraj Singh
  • England won the toss and elected to bat first.

2 October 2007
Scorecard
 India
222 (47.3 overs)
v
 Australia
306/6 (50 overs)
MS Dhoni 58 (88)
George Hogg 3/40 (9.3 overs)
Bradley Haddin 87* (69)
S Sreesanth 3/67 (9 overs)
Australia won by 84 runs
Umpires: SA Bucknor (West Indies) and SL Shastri
Player of the match: Bradley Haddin
  • India won the toss and elected to field first.

17 October 2010
Scorecard
v
Match abandoned without a ball bowled due to rain.
Umpires: Billy Bowden (New Zealand) and AM Saheba (India)

15 January 2013
Scorecard
 India
285/6 (50 overs)
v
 England
158/10 (36 overs)
MS Dhoni 72 (66)
ST Finn 2/51 (10 overs)
Kevin Pietersen 42 (44)
B Kumar 3/29 (10 overs)
India won by 127 runs
Umpires: Vineet Kulkarni and Steve Davis
Player of the match: Ravindra Jadeja (India)
  • India won the toss and elected to bat first.

21 November 2013
Scorecard
 India
212–4 (35.2 overs)
v
 West Indies
211 (48.5 overs)
Virat Kohli 86 (84)
J Holder 2/48 (8 overs)
DM Bravo 59 (77)
R Jadeja 3/37 (10 overs)
India won by 6 wickets
Umpires: VA Kulkarni( India) and RJ Tucker( Australia)
Player of the match: Virat Kohli (India)
  • West Indies won the toss and elected to bat first.

8 October 2014
Scorecard
 India
197
v
Shikhar Dhawan 68 (92)
Marlon Samuels 2/10 (3 overs)
Marlon Samuels 126 (116)
Mohammed Shami 4/66 (9 overs)
West Indies won by 124 runs
Umpires: IJ Gould( England) and S Ravi( India)
Player of the match: MN Samuels (West Indies)
  • India won the toss and elected to field first.

Indian Premier League

The cricket stadium in Kochi was expected to serve the Chennai Super Kings or the Royal Challengers Bangalore as a home venue apart from Chennai and Bangalore for the initial IPL seasons. However both the franchises initially refused and later promised to reconsider the offer, fearing a decline in revenues. Eventually no matches of the first 3 IPL seasons were played in Kochi.

The auction for expanding the initial eight franchises to ten for the 2011 season was held on 22 March 2010. Rendezvous Sports World made the second highest bid of ₹ 15333 million, and elected to base its team in Kochi.[16]

The first IPL match held at the stadium was between Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Royal Challengers Bangalore on 9 April 2011. The match was also Kochi Tuskers first ever IPL match.

9 April 2011
(Scorecard)
Kochi Tuskers Kerala
161/5 (20 overs)
v
Royal Challengers Bangalore
162/4 (18.4 overs)
B McCullum 45 (32)
D Vettori 1–17 (4 overs)
AB de Villiers 54 (40)
R Jadeja 1–28 (4 overs)
Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 6 wickets
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SL) and Krishna Hariharan (Ind)
Player of the match: AB de Villiers (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
  • Kochi Tuskers Kerala won the toss and elected to bat

18 April 2011
(Scorecard)
Kochi Tuskers Kerala
135/3 (15 overs)
v
Chennai Super Kings
131/4 (17 overs)
B McCullum 47 (33)
R Ashwin 2–31 (4 overs)
SK Raina 50 (40)
RV Gomez 1–20 (2 overs)
Kochi Tuskers Kerala won by 7 wickets (D/L method)
Umpires: Krishna Hariharan (Ind) and Tony Hill (NZ)
Player of the match: BB McCullum (Kochi Tuskers Kerala)
  • Kochi Tuskers won the toss and elected to field
  • Match reduced to 17 overs per side due to rain. Kochi's target was adjusted to 135 runs from 17 overs via the Duckworth–Lewis method.

27 April 2011
(Scorecard)
Kochi Tuskers Kerala
74 (16.3 overs)
v
Deccan Chargers
129/6 (20 overs)
Ravindra Jadeja 23 (35)
Ishant Sharma 5/12 (3 overs)
Kumar Sangakkara 65 (47)
Vinay Kumar 3/25 (4 overs)
Deccan Chargers won by 55 runs
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SL) and Tony Hill (NZ)
Player of the match: Ishant Sharma (Deccan Chargers)
  • Kochi Tuskers Kerala won the toss and elected to field.

30 April 2011
(Scorecard)
Kochi Tuskers Kerala
119 (18.5 overs)
v
Delhi Daredevils
157/7 (20 overs)
Ravindra Jadeja 31 (22)
Morné Morkel 3/18 (4 overs)
Virender Sehwag 80 (47)
Sreesanth 2/10 (4 overs)
Delhi Daredevils won by 38 runs
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SL) and Tony Hill (NZ)
Player of the match: Virender Sehwag (Delhi Daredevils)
  • Delhi Daredevils won the toss and elected to bat.

5 May 2011
(Scorecard)
Kochi Tuskers Kerala
156/5 (20 overs)
v
Kolkata Knight Riders
139/7 (20 overs)
Mahela Jayawardene 55 (41)
Jaydev Unadkat 2/25 (4 overs)
Eoin Morgan 66 (51)
Raiphi Gomez 2/14 (4 overs)
Kochi Tuskers Kerala won by 17 runs
Umpires: Rod Tucker (Aus) and S. Ravi (Ind)
Player of the match: Brad Hodge (Kochi Tuskers Kerala)
  • Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.

ODI records at the venue

Batting

  • Highest Total: 321/6 (50 overs) by West Indies vs. India on 8 October 2014.
  • Lowest Total: 191 (48.3 overs) by India vs. Zimbabwe on 13 March 2002.
  • Most Runs : Rahul Dravid (223 runs from 292 balls in 5 matches)
  • Highest Score: Marlon Samuels (West Indies) 126* runs from 116 balls vs. India on 8 October 2014.
  • Average 1st innings total : 273
  • Average 2nd innings total : 225

Bowling

Highest partnerships by wicket

WicketRunsTeamPlayersOpposition
1st 235  South Africa Gary Kirsten Herschelle Gibbs  India
2nd 76  India Rahul Dravid IK Pathan  England
3rd 201  India Rahul Dravid Virender Sehwag  Pakistan
4th 165  West Indies Denesh Ramdin Marlon Samuels  India
5th 121  India HH Kanitkar Ajay Jadeja  Australia
6th 96  India MS Dhoni Ravindra Jadeja  England
7th 17  Pakistan Shahid Afridi Mohammad Hafeez  India
8th 25  India Mahendra Singh Dhoni Ramesh Powar  Australia
9th 28  England MJ Hoggard GO Jones  India
10th 42  Pakistan Naved-ul-Hasan Arshad Khan  India

List of centuries

Key

  • * denotes that the batsman was not out.
  • Inns. denotes the number of the innings in the match.
  • Balls denotes the number of balls faced in an innings.
  • NR denotes that the number of balls was not recorded.
  • Parentheses next to the player's score denotes his century number at Edgbaston.
  • The column title Date refers to the date the match started.
  • The column title Result refers to the player's team result

One Day Internationals

No.ScorePlayerTeamBallsInns.Opposing teamDateResult
1105*Ajay Jadeja India1091 Australia1 April 1998Won[17]
2115Gary Kirsten South Africa1231 India9 March 2000Lost[18]
3111Herschelle Gibbs South Africa1271 India9 March 2000Lost[18]
4108Virender Sehwag India951 Pakistan2 April 2005Won[19]
5104Rahul Dravid India1391 Pakistan2 April 2005Won[19]
6126*Marlon Samuels West Indies1061 India8 October 2014Lost[20]

List of Five Wicket Hauls

Key

Symbol Meaning
† The bowler was man of the match
‡ 10 or more wickets taken in the match
§ One of two five-wicket hauls by the bowler in the match
Date Day the Test started or ODI was held
Inn Innings in which five-wicket haul was taken
Overs Number of overs bowled.
Runs Number of runs conceded
Wkts Number of wickets taken
Econ Runs conceded per over
Batsmen Batsmen whose wickets were taken
Drawn The match was drawn.

One Day Internationals

No. Bowler Date Team Opposing team Inn Overs Runs Wkts Econ Batsmen Result
1Sachin Tendulkar1 April 1998 India Australia2103253.2 Won[17]
2Sachin Tendulkar2 April 2005 India Pakistan2105055 Won[19]

IPL records at venue

Highest partnerships by wicket

WicketRunsTeamPlayersOpposition
1st 80 Kochi Tuskers Kerala Brendon McCullum V.V.S.Laxman Royal Challengers Bangalore
2nd 51 Kochi Tuskers Kerala Brendon McCullum P Patel Chennai Super Kings
3rd 51 Kochi Tuskers Kerala Klinger M Jayawardene Kolkata Knight Riders
4th 90 Deccan Chargers CL White KC Sangakkara Kochi Tuskers Kerala
5th 41 Delhi Daredevils Virender Sehwag TR Birt Kochi Tuskers Kerala
6th 22* Kochi Tuskers Kerala Brad Hodge R Gomez Kolkata Knight Riders
7th 36 Kochi Tuskers Kerala RA Jadeja NLTC Perera Deccan Chargers
8th 26 Kochi Tuskers Kerala RA Jadeja R Vinay Kumar Deccan Chargers
9th 1 Kochi Tuskers Kerala R Vinay Kumar S Sreesanth Deccan Chargers
10th 1 Kochi Tuskers Kerala R P Singh R Vinay Kumar Delhi Daredevils

Kerala Blasters FC

The stadium is the official home ground for the Kerala Blasters FC in Indian Super League since 2014. Kerala Blasters had won their first ISL home match against FC Goa for 1–0 conducted on 6 November 2014.

The game between Kerala Blasters FC and Chennaiyin FC saw 61,234 spectators on 30 November 2014. Kerala Blasters has the highest average attendance (47,427) for football clubs outside of Europe in domestic league matches, at that time.[21]

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Blasters Matchday

In the inaugural season of Indian Super League, Kerala Blasters finished fourth in the group stages with 19 points from 14 games and qualified for Semi-final after beating Pune City FC. Kerala Blasters FC was unbeaten in six of their seven home games. In semi-final which happened to be the last home match of this year for Kerala Blasters FC, Kerala Blasters FC won in emphatic fashion by trouncing toppers Chennaiyin FC with scoreline 3–0. One of the goals was scored by Malayali midfielder Sushanth Mathew away from 30 yards through a curling long-ranger, shot over renowned footballers Alessandro Nesta and Mikaël Silvestre and it became a proud and memorable moment for sports fans in Kerala.[22] The opening ceremony of Hero Indian Super League 2017/18 was hosted in the stadium.

Chirag United Club Kerala

The former I-League football team Chirag United Club Kerala (erstwhile Viva Kerala) played their home matches in the stadium for the 2011–12 I-League season.

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup

On 5 December 2013, the FIFA Executive Committee chaired by FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter decided that host of 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup will be India[23] upon evaluation of bid sent by AIFF with Kochi as one of the eight possible venues.[24] Later, Chief Minister of Kerala Mr.Oommen Chandy stated that they will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Sports Ministry in that regard after an exclusive cabinet meet on the issue.[25] Government has appointed senior IAS officer Mr. APM Mohammed Hanish as Nodal Officer as per Fifa's direction.[26]

On 11 December 2014, FIFA team inspected the stadium and emphasised to improve the quality of pitch and need of bucket seats in the second tier of the stadium. With Kochi registering an average crowd of 47,000 for ISL, the city has gathered attention from the authorities in terms of attracting crowd.

On 6 April 2015, AIFF cleared Kochi as one of the venues after receiving FIFA's technical committee report. Delhi, Mumbai, Guwahati, Goa and Kolkata are the other venues.[11]

Kerala Strikers

The Celebrity Cricket League team Kerala Strikers played its home matches in the stadium since 2012.

Accessibility

Stadium Link Road

The Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium is located in the heart of the city. It lies beside the Banerjee Road between Kaloor and Palarivattom, a common stretch among many city bus routes. The Stadium Link Road from the southern side allows access from Thammanam and Kathrikadavu, although there is no public transport along this route. The stadium is situated at 2.5 and 5.2 km (1.6 and 3.2 mi) from the North (Town) and South (Junction) railway stations respectively.

All city buses passing through the Kaloor-Palarivattom stretch have a stop at the stadium. The JLN Stadium metro station of the Kochi Metro is situated right in front of the stadium. The presence of a prominent bus stop as well as a metro station makes it a prime location and one which can be easily accessed from any part of the city.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "STADIUM". waytokickoff.com. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  2. 1 2 AFC Asian Cup 2027 Bidding Nation India. All India Football Federation. 28 December 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  3. ↑ Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kaloor, Kochi Archived 26 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine. keralacricketassociation.com. Retrieved 18 July 2021
  4. ↑ "'FIFA never compromised on the safety of people at the JNI Stadium. But ISL does' - the New Indian Express". Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  5. ↑ "FIFA U-17 World Cup: Kochi stadium capacity reduced to 29,000 from 41,000". 4 October 2017. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  6. ↑ "Contingency plans if Kochi can't host U-17 World Cup". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  7. ↑ "Kerala's football fans set high goals". Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  8. ↑ "Manorama Online". Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  9. ↑ "Ground Capacity". 10 November 2016. Archived from the original on 20 November 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  10. ↑ "Loudest record". fanport.in. Archived from the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  11. 1 2 "Kochi to host U-17 FIFA World Cup matches". Manoramaonline. Archived from the original on 8 April 2015.
  12. ↑ "Cochin Stadium". Official Website. 10 May 2016. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  13. ↑ "Office Bearers of Kerala State Athletics Association". Official Website of Kerala State Athletics Association. 10 May 2016. Archived from the original on 11 February 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  14. ↑ "StadiumDB". Archived from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  15. ↑ "Kochi Stadium record crowd welcomes football again". December 2014. Archived from the original on 30 March 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  16. ↑ "Pune and Kochi to join 2011 Indian Premier League, BBC Sport". Archived from the original on 8 April 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
  17. 1 2 "1st Match, Pepsi Triangular Series at Kochi, Apr 1 1998". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  18. 1 2 "1st Match, Pepsi Triangular Series at Kochi, Apr 1 1998". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  19. 1 2 3 "1st ODI, Pakistan tour of India at Kochi, Apr 2 2005". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  20. ↑ "1st ODI (D/N), West Indies tour of India at Kochi, Oct 8 2014". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  21. ↑ "Kerala Blasters has the highest average attendance". 15 December 2014. Archived from the original on 7 September 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  22. ↑ "Sushanth Mathew: 'I pulled off Cristiano trick'". Nikhil Jitendran. Goal.com. 15 December 2014. Archived from the original on 2 March 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  23. ↑ "FIFA launches 2014 FIFA World Cup Legacy Trust". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014.
  24. ↑ "Official: India to host U-17 World Cup in 2017". Goal.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  25. ↑ "Kerala Government backs U-17 World Cup India bid". Goal.com. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  26. ↑ "Hanish appointed Nodal Officer for 2017 Fifa U-17 World Cup". The Times of India. PTI. Archived from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.