Edgbaston Stadium, the home of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, will host Indian Women’s T20 cricket which is making its debut at the Commonwealth Games 2022. One may wonder what is the significance of the alphabet ‘e’ on this cricket ground? This alphabet can be seen almost everywhere at the stadium premises.
At the entrance, one can see the ‘e’ alphabet, outside the stadium’s cycle stand the cycle stands shows alphabet ‘e’. If you take a look at the floodlights on the ground, it is also designed in the shape of ‘e’. Interestingly the T-shirts of staff members working in the stadium have Edgbaston written over it with alphabet ‘e’ being properly highlighted. The food items like muffins too have alphabet ‘e’ written on it. Here ‘e’ signifies Edgbaston. Edgbaston’s capacity is nearly 25,000 spectators and it is one of the world’s leading cricket venues that regularly hosts Test, One-day International and T20 International matches.
This stadium has a great history as Brian Lara scored his world record unbeaten 501 for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994. In 1973, the ground staged the inaugural Women’s World Cup final, in which England beat Australia. In 2013, this venue hosted the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy final where India beat England under legendary cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy. Recently, the Indian team defeated England in this venue by a big margin of 49 runs in the second T20I to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. In 2018, cricketer Virat Kohli notched up his first Test ton on English soil in the same ground scoring 149 in the first innings and 51 in the second innings.
In the 1999’ ICC World Cup, the Indian team under the leadership of Mohammad Azharuddin beat England in a crucial league match by 63 runs. It was a do-or-die encounter for men in blue to qualify for the super-six stage.Indian fans would hope that the Indian women’s team excels in the venue where the men’s team in the past have excelled. Recently, the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the Indian women’s cricket team for the upcoming Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham. Harmanpreet Kaur will captain India while Smriti Mandhana will be her deputy. This will be the first time that Women’s T20 International will be featured in the prestigious multi-sport event.