Indian skipper Virat Kohli surprised with atmosphere at beautiful Greenfield Stadium in Trivandrum

Trivandrum’s Greenfield International Cricket Stadium made its debut in international cricket after hosts India played the final and deciding T20I against New Zealand there on November 7 (Tuesday). It was after 29 years that cricket came back to Trivandrum.

Team India won the match by six runs and the series by a 2-1 margin. After winning the rain-curtailed match, Indian skipper Virat Kohli expressed his surprise at the venue for not getting a game for such a long time and he appreciated the capacity crowd at the stadium. The match also left India nervous for a while due to damp nature of the ground following torrential rainfall at the stadium.

“I think we were really happy to get a game. This crowd deserved to watch some action. Ever since the ODIs started, we expected them to give a good fight. We were nervous to start here, with the damp pitch,” said Kohli after India won the eight overs a side contest.

India batting first scored 67 for 5 and New Zealand fell short of six runs to win the series in India. Indian pace Jasprit Bumrah emerged as a key element to the win two wickets and reducing any chances for a Black Caps fightback with a strong final over.

“We thought if we can take the run-rate up, it’s not going to be so easy. Rohit and MS (Dhoni) came up with Bumrah bowling the second last, and Hardik Pandya bowled the last over well. When Hardik got hurt, I was thinking god forbid if I had to bowl the last four balls,” said Kohli seeing the funny side of Pandya’s spirited fielding effort in the final over.”

“We have won a few on the trot and it makes us very proud. This stadium is beautiful, the outfield wonderful and the crowd made it special. I am surprised there were no games here earlier,” he added.