Follow UsA game being stopped due to floodlight failure is not new in India, but this was an embarrassment of epic proportions for the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA), which was hosting an international match almost after a gap of three years.
From opening just 30% of the total tickets for general fans to failing to handle the crowd outside of the ticket counter, the match had already come under scanner for multiple reasons, but this added a shameful cap to Odisha’s infamous experience of hosting international games.
Back in 2015, Cuttack became an international embarrassment when fans hurled bottles to the ground after India were schooled by South Africa in a T20I. When India did well, everything was forgotten, but fans were denied bare minimum facilities at the ground. It is perhaps the only cricket venue in the entire country to still have concrete floors in 2025. And when it comes to safety on the stands, the less we talk about, the better.
It is also ironical that Odisha has become a global sporting hub for the kind of promotion it has done for various Olympic sports. It is a state that has become the breeding ground for hockey in India, which has translated into two consecutive Olympic medals. But what hinders them from hosting a painless cricket match?
Cricket is loved in Odisha, and especially in Cuttack, in a way that’s unbelievably pure. People stand in line for more than 15-20 hours just to get a match ticket, and some people sacrifice more than a month’s salary when cricket comes calling to this sleepy eastern Indian city on the bank of Mahanadi and Kathajodi rivers. People in Cuttack are simple, deriving pleasure from things that many big-town people take for granted. The joy of watching their favorite players live makes them turn up in thousands even for a practice session.
On the eve of the clash against England on Sunday, 20,000 people thronged to the venue, hoping to catch a glimpse of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. That is Cuttack for you. You wouldn’t find that level of fanaticism everywhere.
But on the game day, when a solid organization could have made everyone forget the dichotomy of the state, it became a national embarrassment. Floodlight failure is not a big worry, but you wouldn’t want to come to this situation when you’re not a regular in the BCCI roster. You wouldn’t want to leave such an impression when you would much rather have a chance to showcase everything brilliant about the city and the Odia culture.
Political mud-slinging is not the way to go, but in the last few months, there has been a significant change in OCA’s position since the change in power in the state. This is much in line with the BCCI and how the power dynamics lie in New Delhi. That should have made things easier for fans, the ultimate stakeholder in the sport, to be prioritised, but the renovation idea was dusted to the ground by the state government.
Technical issues happen every now and then, and OCA will investigate and get to the bottom of it. But by failing to encash on the only available opportunity in a crowded Indian stadium market, Cuttack has already missed the bus. In the process, they’ve lost a few advocates for the venue along the way.
It’d be a shame because the Barabati Stadium is a historic cricket venue, with a history spanning 64 years. It hosted India’s only third-ever ODI at home and two World Cup matches before the turn of the millennium. No matter the lobby to construct another venue in Bhubaneswar, Odisha’s state capital, or Puri, the spiritual Hindu abode, the Barabati Stadium is still one of the very best venues strategically placed to cater to the state's fanbase.
Going deeper into why there has hardly been a real lobby to redesign Barabati and make it a proper venue would be navel-gazing, for there are many political reasons behind it, but just providing the bare minimum to host a match everyone would love to watch isn’t asking too much. The ball is now in OCA’s court on how they want to roll with it.
(Disclaimer: I am from Cuttack and love Barabati Stadium to the core. So many of my growing-up memories are tied to this venue.)