Azad Maidan

One of the divided sections of the erstwhile Esplanade that stretched from Cooperage to Cross Maidan, Azad Maidan lies sandwiched in between a sea of chaos, commerce and crowds that represent this indefatigable metropolis.

There's another ‘c' that defines these open spaces in the city - cricket. It was over the period of three balmy days in February (23-25) at this venue when two mini marauders in their white flannels went on to create not just local history but changed Indian cricket forever.

The two pint-sized cricketing genius were 14-year-old Sachin TendulKar (326) and his best friend, 16-year-old Vinod Kambli (349) of Shardashram Marathi who amassed 664 runs in their third wicket stand, as they notched up a massive 748 runs in their Harris Shield encounter against a hapless St Xavier's school attack.

The space is also venue for the Kanga League matches, probably, the world's only cricket tournament that is played in the monsoon. The Kanga League was established in 1947 and is Asia's largest club cricket tournament in terms of the number of matches played per day; an average of 98 matches are played daily.u00a0

Opposite , BMC office, CST

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Mornings are best