The fourth T20I between India and New Zealand will be held at Eden Park in Auckland on Friday (October 30) as the Men in Blue aim to seal a series whitewash in the five-match series after ensuring they have won the series with an unassailable 3-0 series victory, with two wins at Christchurch before a record-breaking display with the bat at Wellington.
After Indian batters stole the show in the third game at the Hnry Stadium, another high-scoring match is expected as Eden Park has some of the shortest boundaries in world cricket, which are well below the ICC’s limit of minimum boundary sizes.
For those unversed, the venue has straight boundaries of approximately 55 meters (60.1 yards) and square boundaries ranging from about 64 to 68 meters (70 to 74 yards). Meanwhile, the ICC rules state that ‘no boundary shall be longer than 90 yards (82.29 meters), and no boundary should be shorter than 65 yards (59.43 metres).’
Why ICC Allows Eden Park To Host International Games?
While evidently the straight boundaries are well short of the ICC limits at Auckland, the ground continues to remain the marquee venue for white-ball cricket in New Zealand. The reason behind the exception for the venue being made is that ICC only introduced the provisions for boundary limits in 2007.
Hence, any ground that hosted international cricket before that continues hosting games. For those unversed, Auckland’s iconic venue first hosted a Test match in 1930 and its maiden ODI in 1976. The ground also hosted the first-ever T20I in history between New Zealand and Australia in 2005.
The ground is also the biggest cricket venue in New Zealand as far as capacity is concerned. In fact, the fourth game between India and New Zealand will see a record crowd of 40,000 people with tickets sold. This will break the record for the highest attendance at a bilateral match in the country. The previous record was set in 2019 when the New Zealand Men’s and Women’s teams hosted India in a double-header T20I.
The only other instance of as many people attending a cricket match at the venue was the epic 2015 World Cup semi-final between South Africa and New Zealand, which turned out to be one of the most exciting cricket matches ever played.
For those unversed, the reason behind the short boundary size at the venue is the fact that it is a multi-purpose stadium and primarily used for Rugby. The 2011 Rugby World Cup was held at Eden Park.
The ground is occasionally used as a football ground by the New Zealand team, who have played four matches there. In fact, the venue hosted nine games in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, including a quarter-final and semi-final.