About Venue

The Sawai Mansingh Stadium has hosted a solitary Test match, between India and Pakistan, starting in February 1987, when Pakistan President General Zia-ul-Haq crossed the border to watch the second day's play as part of his "Cricket for Peace" initiative. The Test was notable for Younis Ahmed's return to the Test fray after an absence of over 17 years and also for Sunil Gavaskar's dismissal to the first ball of the Test match, for the third time in an otherwise illustrious career. The game sputtered to a draw after the third day's play was abandoned following heavy rain and a controversy over the alleged deposition of sawdust on the wicket which Pakistan objected to. The stadium's ODI debut had kicked off with a contest between the same two sides on 2 October 1983. Fresh from their World Cup triumph, the Indians comfortably won by four wickets, sporting the same XI that won the World Cup final. The ground has also hosted two World Cup matches in 1987 and 1996 respectively, the West Indians losing to England in the former and beating Australia in the latter. The last ODI played on the ground is between India and Australia in October 2013 which they won comfortably by just losing one wicket chasing 362 in just 43.3 overs. The highest individual score by any batsman on this ground in ODIs is 183 (not out) by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. This is also the venue in which Virat Kohli made the fastest 100 for India in ODIs as India chase total of 359 against Australia which was second highest successful chase in ODIs, after the Johannesburg epic between Australia and South Africa.[4]