The venue of upcoming Pak-India World T20 match has been officially transferred to Eden Garden, Kolkata. The happy news for Pakistan is that they can provide India with a jinx as well. India has never able to defeat Pakistan in Kolkata. But when the match is in Eden Gardens, you have to worry about crowd as well. It has been said that they don’t take defeat with good heart. They love throwing tantrums - or bottles.

Let’s take a nostalgic look back on rowdy crowd of Kolkata and how many times they tried to set stadium on fire.

India v West Indies, 1966-67

Trouble at Eden Gardens started outside the ground after local authorities had sold more tickets than there were seats. Angry ticket-holders who were denied access stormed the fences and set fire to stands and the pavilion roof. As innocent spectators were forced onto the outfield, police baton-charged them and fired tear gas. The crowd counter-attacked and when the outnumbered police force fled, the mob carried broken benches to the middle and started a bonfire as well as gouged holes in the pitch. Against this backdrop, Conrad Hunte was reported to have climbed the flagpole to save the West Indies flag, before fleeing on foot. The second day's play was written off.

India v Australia, 1969-70

The 1969-70 Australia series was played against a backdrop of widespread violence. On the fourth (and final) day in Calcutta, tragedy struck when around 25,000 people who had been queuing all night tried to rush the ticket counters before they opened. Riot police fired tear gas and were met in turn with a hail of bottles and stones. Six died and another 30 were injured. Although play started on time, there was further trouble when spectators in a stand pelted stones at those in a lower tier, forcing them onto the pitch. The police eventually persuaded them to stay on the boundary edge so the match could be concluded. After Keith Stackpole hit the winning runs, the Australian batsmen flanked the Nawab of Pataudi as he left the field to protect him from missiles. Trouble at Eden Gardens started outside the ground after local authorities had sold more tickets than there were seats. Angry ticket-holders who were denied access stormed the fences and set fire to stands and the pavilion roof. As innocent spectators were forced onto the outfield, police lathi-charged them and fired tear gas. The crowd counter-attacked and when the outnumbered police force fled, the mob carried broken benches to the middle and started a bonfire as well as gouged holes in the pitch. Against this backdrop, Conrad Hunte was reported to have climbed the flagpole to save the West Indies flag, before fleeing on foot. The second day's play was written off.

India v England 3rd Test, 1984-85

Sunil Gavaskar as a captain did not include Kapil Dev. To make matters worse, India took 200 overs to make 437 for 7, with Mohammad Azharuddin and Ravi Shastri adding 214 for the fifth wicket at under 2 runs an over. A section of the crowd hooted and booed, shouting "Gavaskar down, Gavaskar out" when he appeared outside the dressing-room while Manoj Prabhakar and Chetan Sharma were batting, and he fruit was thrown when he led India out to field. Play was held up for eight minutes while ground staff cleared the outfield.

India vs. Sri-Lanka 1996

The most famous incident was the World Cup semi-final in 1996 when India chasing a stiff target collapsed. And when it was almost inevitable that India won’t be able to catch up with a score, there were bottles in the ground and fire in the stands. The crowd that night acted more like a crazed mob wielding not just torches, but also imaginary pitchforks that they would’ve liked to skewer the Indian cricketers with. 

The stadium was evacuated and Sri Lanka were awarded the match; they eventually ended up winning the cup. But who can forget the sad teary face of Vinod Kambli. He was crying because thought India still had a chance, but impatience of Kolkata didn’t let that happen.

But wait there was one guy holding a banner, “We are sorry, well played Sri Lanka”.

Pakistan vs India 1999

Pakistani fans won’t forget this one. The thrilling India-Pakistan match during the Asian Test Championship in 1999 was played in front of empty stands. The Eden crowd decided that the freakish run-out of Sachin Tendulkar was reason enough to lose their minds. Even the little master himself walking around the ground to calm them down wasn’t enough. Nor was Dalmiya’s token walk with him.

India vs South Africa 2005

The most interesting is the latest. The Eden Gardens crowd was not upset because of India doing bad but because of a totally bizarre reason. It was the 2005 ODI between India and South Africa. Sourav Ganguly had been dropped from the team, so the Eden Gardens crowd decided to support South Africa and mock Indian players. Crowd was not driven to support South Africa out of some gracious instinct of sportsmanship. It was rather a cynical, passive-aggressive tantrum at Ganguly’s exclusion.