1995: A serious tragedy occurred in India-New Zealand ODI, 9 fans lost their lives, but the match was still being played.

New Delhi, 26th November-2022, Saturday

Currently, the Indian cricket team is on a tour of New Zealand for the T20 and ODI series. India has won the T20 series, after which the two teams have also started a three-match ODI series between them. In yesterday's first match, the hosts New Zealand won. Today there is a coincidence that a match was played between the two countries 27 years ago today. In 1995, an ODI series was played between India and New Zealand, the fifth match of which was played on 26 November. The match is remembered for Nathan Astle's explosive batting, though unfortunately the match also recalls a sad incident.

27 years ago today on Sunday 26 November 1995, the last match of the five-match ODI series between India and New Zealand was played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. The first innings of the match saw explosive batting from New Zealand's emerging explosive batsman Nathan Astle, however, a horrific tragedy occurred after the completion of the first innings.

9 dead due to wall collapse

For the 1996 World Cup, renovation work was underway to make the VCA Stadium even better and a new wall was erected in the East Pavilion. A large number of spectators came to watch the India-New Zealand match. As the lunch break was going on after New Zealand's first innings, the spectators present in the second and third tiers were leaving the stadium during the lunch break. Meanwhile, the newly built wall suddenly collapsed, under the debris of which many spectators were buried. In this incident, three people died on the spot, while 6 spectators breathed their last in the hospital. More than 60 spectators were also injured in this incident.

The match continued even after the incident

Even though the match was not played by the organizers, the hearts of all the people present in the match were blown away when this tragedy occurred. Not only this, the players were also not informed about this incident and India's innings started. During this match, the organizers were afraid that if the match was cancelled, a large number of spectators would create a ruckus, due to which a major incident was likely to happen.

Astle's century, India's defeat

Despite such a major disaster, the match ended and New Zealand defeated India by a huge score of 99 runs. The Kiwis batted first and Nathan Astle scored an explosive ODI century. With the help of Nathan's 114 runs, New Zealand posted a huge score of 348 runs for 8 wickets. New Zealand's score of 348 was the third highest in ODI cricket at the time. In reply, the Indian team was bundled out for just 249 runs in 40 overs. Sachin Tendulkar scored the highest 65 runs for India.