The long waiting of ardent cricket fans in Kerala was finally ended as Kerala just hosted an international cricket match between India and New Zealand at Greenfield Stadium (Sportshub) in the capital city of Kerala Trivandrum. The last international cricket match played in Kerala was back in 2014 when India up against West Indies at JLN Stadium in Kochi. But the unfortunate fans in Kerala had to see India losing the match by 124 runs.
However, this time newly built Trivandrum Sportshub was the host to the match. The match was drawn capacity crowd and India emerged as the winners in the T20 against the New Zealand for the very second time in the history of the T20 encounters between the twos. Trivandrum last hosted an international match was back in 1988 when India played West Indies at University Stadium.
Though only sixteen overs was played due to delay in the match because of downpours, the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) reportedly so far earned whopping 5.38 crores from the match alone and with BCCI giving their share it is expected to hike up to 7 crores.
According to KCA secretary Jayesh George, this is the record-breaking figures from any international cricket matches that Kerala hosted. According to him, though Kochi drew a capacity crowd in the past, the earning from ticket sales was below two crores. However, in Trivandrum from ticket sales alone KCA collected whopping 2.91 crores against the expectation of 2.3 crores.
The sold-out stadium was an integral part of India's spirited performance against the Blackcaps to secure a thrilling six-run victory and winning the T20 series 2-1.
Due to the successful hosting of the match, KCA is expecting more matches to be allotted to the stadium soon. However, BCCI earlier confirmed that the Sportshub to host a T20 between India and Srilanka on December 20 this year.
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