India’s Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma lift the trophy (Photo: Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images) Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh brushed off the notion that the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad brings bad luck to the Indian team, stressing that the outcome of matches completely depends on the players’ performances on the day. The debate surrounding the venue intensified following India’s defeat to the Australian national cricket team in the final of the 2023 Cricket World Cup at the same stadium. Harbhajan, however, insisted that the loss had nothing to do with the pitch itself and was simply the fault of Australia playing the better cricket in that match.
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“When two good teams play against each other, of course one loses. When India played Australia (in 2023), Australia was the better team on that particular day. We saw in this game that if you put your right foot forward from ball one, you get results. Whatever people thought, that this pitch was ‘panauti’ (unlucky) or whatever I heard and brushed off on social media now.” Harbhajan also pointed out that similar notions once existed about another iconic venue, the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, before the results eventually reversed. “A lot of people also talk about Eden Gardens. Eden didn’t have the best records, but somewhere that has changed. Fortunately, in our era, we have done that. A lot of people also talk about this stadium in Ahmedabad – if they play there, India might lose. But that has nothing to do with the cricketers or the result of the game that Harset played today.” His remarks follow similar views expressed by fellow off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who also urged fans not to treat the Ahmedabad venue as a slur ahead of India’s final match against the New Zealand national cricket team in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. “You can lose a match on the field and win another one. What’s the point? We won a lot of matches in that stadium. Don’t make such a stadium taboo,” Ashwin said on his show Ash ki Baat while discussing the conversation surrounding the venue ahead of the title clash. The veteran spinner, who played 106 Tests for India, added that the current Indian team would not be distracted by such narratives. “I don’t think it should stand in the way. I’m sure after some time the monkey on the back will be there. But now I don’t think the team will think about these things,” he added.
