Hyderabad: When India takes on the visiting English side, it will be the ninth Test to be hosted by Hyderabad and the sixth to be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Uppal here.
According to the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) website, the first test match assigned to Hyderabad was in 1955. The test was played between India and New Zealand at the LB Stadium near Abids. In this drawn match, Polly Umrigar scored 233 runs which is the highest record for all test matches at Hyderabad.
India then played New Zealand in the second Test hosted by the LB Stadium from October 15-20, 1969, which ended in a tame draw. India then once again took on New Zealand at Hyderabad in a Test, which was played between December 2 to 6 at the LB Stadium and the hosts won the match by 10 wickets. The match featured well-known players like K Srikkanth, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Dilip Vengsarkar and local boy Arshad Ayub.
Test Cricket in Hyderabad then shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium (RGICS) in Uppal and the stadium hosted its first Test against New Zealand from November 12 to 16 and the game ended in a draw. For India, Gautam Gambhir Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, local boy VVS Laxman, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni featured in the playing XI.
RGICS then hosted a Test from August 23 to August 27, 2012, when India took on New Zealand and the hosts won by an innings and 115 runs, courtesy of Cheteshwar Pujara's 159 and ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin's 6/31 in the first innings and 6/54 in the second.
The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium then played host to the India versus Australia Test from March 2 to 5 and the hosts won by an innings and 135 runs. Cheteshwar Pujara was once again the star performer for India as he slammed 204 and Murli Vijay made an equally responsible 167. R Ashwin once again wreaked havoc in Australia's second innings and returned with fine figures of 5 for 63.
Hyderabad (Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium) was scheduled to host the first Test between India and West Indies from October 30-November 3 but the match was cancelled.
"The remainder of the tour was cancelled after the 4th ODI before the scheduled first test at Hyderabad when the West Indies players refused to play because of a pay dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board," the HCA website stated.
The Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium then played host to the one-off Test between India and Bangladesh from February 9-13, which the hosts won by a whopping 208 runs. Star batter Virat Kohli made a double century (204) which played a key role in his team's win. Then from October 12 to 14, 2018, India took on the West Indies and the hosts won by 10 wickets.
So overall, Hyderabad has been a happy ground for India and the Rohit Sharma-led team would like to keep the record intact.
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