‘Blown with the wind’ but Sachin’s Roop Singh etched in history

"It's blown with the wind, so Sachin's name isn't there. We had left it like it was in the game," said scorer Sunil Gupta while looking at the dilapidated scoreboard at the Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior.

This was the venue where the great Sachin Tendulkar had notched up ODI cricket's first double hundred and as the official scorer of that India vs South Africa game back in 2010, Sunil saw it all unfold right in front of him. It was the last international fixture to be played at the ground as well.

Once the main hub of cricket in the region, the first international cricket stadium in Gwalior now stands in near ruins. A better and more modern venue—Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium – has been built in the outskirts of the city, where Sunil would be scoring the first T20I between Bangladesh and India on October 6.

Entering the venue, one can feel the power of tradition and the ambience a sportsperson like Tendulkar can attach to even a small venue such as the Roop Singh Stadium, named after a former hockey player who was part of India's Olympic gold medal winning teams in 1932 and 1936.

Its swansong saw the changing of times in ODI cricket, the first double hundred in the world by a batter, arguably the greatest in history, tormenting South Africa in a 153-run win.

Sunil recalls the build-up to the game.

"The atmosphere was dramatic. The match had to be shifted from Kanpur due to some issues. They came to us and the ground was ready so we said we would host. So, with about two weeks of preparation we hosted.

"During the nets, he [Tendulkar] was trying out different shots. He called some bowlers and [Anil] Kumble was among them. He asked them to stop him from sweeping by any way possible. Kumble left after bowling six to seven deliveries, perhaps saying 'your concentration is going ok but I'm losing mine'. If you look at the 200, there were a lot of sweeps and reverse-sweeps," he said and a majority of Tendulkar's runs did come from glances.

In a ground of small stature, Tendulkar must have been eying big runs like the Indian fans and the media were anticipating.

"There was hype among media and fans on whether he would get a century in Gwalior, since he had not scored a ton here, previously getting out on 97 against Pakistan in 2007," Sunil said.

There are other stories associated with the venue as well like the great West Indian side playing an ODI here in 1988. In the 1996 World Cup, West Indies and India played another game here where some 30,000 food packets were brought in from Delhi's Nathu's Sweets.

"We wanted to do something new, so we gave food packets, 1.5 litre coke and Yash mineral water bottle for tickets priced at just 100 rupees. It was for 22,000 people. Each lunch packet cost at least 500 rupees," Sunil said.

This ground also held the first-ever day-night Ranji Trophy final, a five-day white-ball affair in 1996.

The dressing room, where once Sachin treaded contemplating his double ton, has seen better days. A few of the stands are almost unusable now. Once a hub of cricket, it is currently run by the municipal of the city not the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association.

The scoreboard paper slabs showing what had happened on that fateful may have been blown with the wind but the name Roop Singh Stadium will be etched in cricket history no matter what.