Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma of India lift the trophy (Photo by Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)

Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has brushed aside the notion that the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad brings bad luck for the Indian team, stressing that the outcome of matches depends entirely on how the players perform on the day. The debate around the venue intensified after India’s defeat to Australia national cricket team in the final of the 2023 Cricket World Cup at the same stadium. However, Harbhajan insisted the loss had nothing to do with the ground itself and was simply down to Australia playing better cricket in that match.

“When two good teams play against each other, one will obviously lose. When India played against Australia (in 2023), Australia were the better team on that particular day. In this game, we saw if you put your right foot forward from ball one, you will get the results. Whatever people used to think, that this ground is a ‘panauti’ (unlucky) or whatsoever I have heard on social media, that is done and dusted now.” Harbhajan also pointed out that similar perceptions had once existed about another iconic venue, Eden Gardens in Kolkata, before results eventually turned around. “Lot of people talk about Eden Gardens as well. Eden didn’t have the best of records, but somewhere down the line it changed. Luckily, in our era, we managed to do that. Lot of people talk about this Ahmedabad stadium as well – if the game is happening there, India might lose. But it has nothing to do with the cricketers or the result of the game. It is the mindset of the people who have never played cricket,” Harbhajan told India Today. His remarks follow similar views expressed by fellow off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who also urged fans not to treat the Ahmedabad venue as a jinx ahead of India’s final clash against New Zealand national cricket team in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. “You can lose a game at a venue and win the next one. What is there in this? We have won a lot of games in that stadium. Don’t make a stadium like this taboo,” Ashwin said on his show Ash ki Baat while discussing the conversation surrounding the venue before the title clash. The veteran spinner, who has played 106 Tests for India, added that the current Indian team would not be distracted by such narratives. “I don’t think it should come into the way. I am sure, after a point of time, that monkey on the back will be there. But now, I don’t think the team will be thinking on those lines,” he added.